


Ties that Bind

by Nomme_dePlume



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, Angst, Crime Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Organized Crime, Police investigation, Secret Relationship, Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-02-01 16:44:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12708891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nomme_dePlume/pseuds/Nomme_dePlume
Summary: The video switched to a pre-taped segment. It was dark, but Naruto could recognize the Uchihas’ house through the flashing of squad car lights. Officers wheeled three stretchers out of the house, and Naruto’s breath froze in his lungs.





	1. Prologue

The images flashed through his mind, fresh as if happening before his very eyes, though he couldn’t tell how long ago they’d actually occurred. He heard the screams and smelled the gunpowder, and a sob made its way past his trembling lips.

His vision began to darken around the edges, and Sasuke squinted, intent on reaching his destination before passing out. He pressed his hand against his torso, hissing at the pain and feeling the heat and slickness of his blood, before pushing off from the building wall on which he leaned and continuing forward.

Sasuke was scared and hurt, confused and fighting back tears and unconsciousness, and he knew that he had to make it. He would be okay if he made it there. He’d be taken care of there.

_Naruto._

Thinking the name had different images bombarding his mind, of a smiling blond with the bluest eyes Sasuke had ever seen. He sobbed again, recalling the last time he’d seen those blue eyes. They’d been narrowed in anger and filled with disgust. At him. And, he realized only now, a bit of sadness. Because of him.

Suddenly, his haven seemed impossible, and he leaned against another wall, his breathing harsh as he fought off the anguish that thought brought on. If he didn’t have Naruto’s support right now, he didn’t know if he’d survive.

A passing car startled him, and Sasuke realized he’d momentarily lost consciousness, his body fortunately still upright as he shook his head of the fuzziness that tried to drag him back under. Gritting his teeth, he lifted his left hand up with some difficulty to try to move the long, dark bangs of his hair out of his face. Then he pushed himself up and stumbled along, intent on reaching Naruto’s. That was his only goal right now.

Slowly but surely, he made his way to Naruto’s apartment building, the pain in his torso overpowering his relief at having made it. He reached out to open the main door, grunting as the heavy door pulled at his wound. He panted and hunched over as he walked toward the elevator, practically collapsing against the wall as he pressed the call button. He couldn’t even spare a moment to be grateful when the car on his right, the one that wouldn’t make him push off the wall and turn around, opened. 

His vision blurred as he stared at the panel of buttons, but years of pressing the button for Naruto’s floor allowed him to do so without really needing to see it. His finger shook as he pushed it, and he curled his fingers into a fist as the doors slid closed, hoping the shaking was from exhaustion and not severe blood loss.

The elevator slowed to a stop, and when the doors opened, Sasuke forced his body forward, his eyes focusing on the door the furthest on the left. A door he knew very well. A door that had slammed in his face only a scant number of hours ago.

His lips pressed together tightly, Sasuke leaned against Naruto’s door frame and knocked. It was late, and there was a chance that Naruto would be asleep— _so he won’t fucking hear a thing_ —but Sasuke hoped against hope that luck was on his side. He pressed his hand tighter against his torso and knocked again.

“Yeah, yeah,” he heard through the door, Naruto’s voice muffled by the wood. “Who is it?”

Sasuke swallowed nervously. “It’s… Sasuke,” he said, blinking furiously to bring his vision into focus. Silence settled on the other side of the door. He closed his eyes and leaned forward, his forehead pressing into the wood paneling. “Naruto, open the door.”

“Fuck you, Uchiha,” Naruto growled, the door not budging. “After what you said to me, the last thing you have the right to do is fucking order me around.”

Sasuke bit his lip, willing away a pained groan as it tried to worm its way up his throat. When he thought he could speak, he opened his eyes and banged his fist softly against the door. “Naruto, I need you to open the door.” He started when he noticed the smear of red on Naruto’s door. In his impatience, he’d used the hand he’d held pressed against his torso. He opened his fist, his eyes widening at the amount of blood that coated his hand. He looked down and saw a small puddle of blood on the floor.

_Shit. Shit, shit, shit._

“Leave, Sasuke. I don’t want to talk to you right now. I don’t even want to see your face!”

He opened his mouth, ready to beg if need be, that puddle of blood making him desperate. But as he continued to stare at his blood, he suddenly wondered about the wisdom of getting Naruto involved. What was Naruto going to do? Sasuke was probably bleeding out. Why make Naruto go through something like that? _I don’t want to put Naruto in this situation._

Breathing in slowly, Sasuke stood straight, wincing as he felt more blood slide down his torso, his clothes and the hastily constructed patch no longer barriers to its flow. He had no time to argue with Naruto if he wanted to survive this.

“All right, I’ll leave.” He paused, his clean hand extended to gently press against the door. “Goodbye, Naruto.”

He slowly made his way back to the elevator, and he found the car he rode up in still stopped on Naruto’s floor. He noticed the smears of blood against the car walls when the doors slid open, so he tried his hardest to stand upright as the elevator glided back to the ground floor.

As he exited into the lobby, his legs began to shake, and Sasuke collapsed to his knees. It sent a jarring pain through his body, and he cried out, the sound echoing off the walls. He breathed deeply, trying to rein in the pain enough to get back to his feet. Eventually he did and stumbled the rest of the way to the door, throwing his body weight into the heavy door to get it to swing open.

He shouldn’t have, because he found he didn’t have the strength to stop himself from falling forward. The sidewalk in front of the building was narrow, so by the time he caught himself, he was in the street, swaying dangerously from side to side as his head swam. His vision blurred more, and his mind began to shut down.

He heard a noise, but he couldn’t identify it. It sounded muffled, so he lifted his head and glanced from side to side. He saw it. The car. But there was no time to move. Even if the car swerved, it was going to hit him. He smiled slightly. He was going to die.

_At least I got to say goodbye._

The car slammed into him, but he couldn’t feel it, couldn’t feel his body flying through the air or hitting the ground. In his mind he saw a trembling pale hand pressing a patch to his torso, he saw dark hair floating in a pool of blood, and he saw a warm smile that he’d never been able to admit filled him with so much happiness until it was too late.

_Naruto…_

 

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

Hiashi stood staring at the house, lit by the small porch light and flashing red and blue lights from the various squad cars. He could just make out the meticulously trimmed hedges and well-tended flowerbeds that lined the front of the house and the cobblestone walkway that led to the front door. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer for… he didn’t know what, maybe strength and serenity. Something that would help him to not vomit when he walked in and saw his friend and brother in arms dead.

Opening his eyes, he stepped forward, hearing the quiet click of his shoes on the stone, and entered the house. There was a slight step up where the polished wood floor began that Hiashi took automatically, knowing the house quite well after so many years, as he looked at the family photos on the wall of the short corridor. When the corridor ended, he turned to his left and entered the living room. Forensics personnel milled about, marking the casings and dusting the entryways. Cameras flashed over everything, and Hiashi could just make out a pale and bloodied arm between the legs of the gathered officers.

“Lieutenant Hyuuga.” He looked up at his name and nodded a greeting.

“Yamanaka, what happened?”

Inoichi nodded and looked down at a small notepad. “At about three this morning, neighbors reported hearing screaming coming from the Uchiha residence. Responding officers arrived about ten minutes later and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Officers rounded the house and noticed a broken window in the back, allowing them to enter the residence with probable cause. Two bodies found…” Inoichi trailed off then softly added, “Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha. Multiple gunshot wounds.”

Hiashi closed his eyes again, this time in pain, as the situation settled inside him. He opened his eyes, catching sight of the large family portrait above the mantel, and moved forward, intent on seeing the bodies. The officers around the bodies moved to make room for him, and his breath hitched in his throat. Fugaku’s body was face down in a drying pool of blood close to the room’s entrance, his hair matted and stuck to the floor where the blood had soaked into it and dried. He had three exit wounds in his back, one dangerously close to his heart. Mikoto’s body was a bit further away, backed up against the sofa and surrounded by an extensive amount of blood that couldn’t have possibly been all hers. She had four entry wounds in her chest and torso.

_They never stood a chance._

“Sir, the Chief is on his way,” Inoichi said behind him.

He nodded. “Then we better have something to tell him. Nara, what happened here?”

Shikaku paused in his conversation with the coroner to look over at him. Nodding, he said something to the coroner before joining them. “Forensics checked the broken window in the back, which seems to be the only visible sign of entry. A backdoor off the kitchen was left open, possibly by the shooters, but I have doubts.”

“What kind of doubts?” Hiashi asked quickly.

Shikaku raised his hand. “In a minute, sir. We don’t know the circumstances, but based on the footprints, blood sprays, and casings, the first shot happened here,” he said as he walked close to Mikoto’s body near the back of the sofa and pointed out the first casing. “No bullet in the wall behind.” He brought his right hand up to imitate a gun as his body turned so that his back was to the sofa. “The next seven shots were also from here, but in this direction. We’ve extracted the bullets from the wall to have ballistics run. An automatic, or more than one assailant fired a weapon, but I’m sure someone will move this one to the front of the line at Ballistics.”

Hiashi surveyed the scene. Shikaku’s description would account for Fugaku’s body, but not Mikoto’s. He said as much to Shikaku.

“Yes. Based on the blood, Mikoto was shot in the same place as Fugaku. But here you can see where she crawled to her current position.” He pointed to a trail of blood from Fugaku’s body to the sofa. There were hand prints smeared along the floor to either side of a long, solid trail of blood that ended as it neared Mikoto’s slouched body.

Hiashi looked over the bodies again. “How many bullets did you extract from the wall?”

“Seven.”

“But there are eight casings.” He looked up and saw both Inoichi and Shikaku nod grimly. “A stray bullet?” When he received no answer, his mouth set in a grim line. “Sasuke,” he whispered.

Shikaku nodded. “I think Sasuke was shot first.” He turned back to the blood surrounding Mikoto. “I’m sure the tests will show that not all of this blood is hers. If I had to guess, Mikoto crawled over to Sasuke after she was shot.”

“Where’s Sasuke’s body?”

“No body, sir.”

“Did they take Sasuke?”

Shikaku crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the floor. “I don’t see anything that indicates a body was dragged out of here. If they picked him up, possibly.”

“Sir, Mikoto’s nightgown is torn and missing a fair bit of fabric,” Inoichi said as he kneeled down close to the body. “The frayed edges have partial palms, so she might have torn it herself.”

“So she crawled over to Sasuke and tore her nightgown. Trying to patch Sasuke?”

“Possibly. He apparently only received one gunshot. There’s no telling where he was shot, so there is a possibility that he got up and walked out on his own.”

“The backdoor?” Hiashi asked Shikaku. The other man nodded and led them to it. It was located in the kitchen, in which the lights had been left off, but enough light spilled in from the living room and hallways to allow them to see their way about.

Shikaku pointed to the floor. “It’s hard to see in the dark, but there are drops of blood that lead from the scene to the backdoor. They could be drops from Sasuke being carried, but there are partial shoeprints that lead me to believe that Sasuke left on his own.”

Hiashi looked behind him, considering the way Fugaku and Mikoto had been killed. His brow knit together as he refocused on the blood drops Shikaku had pointed out. “This doesn’t make sense,” he said quietly. “Why shoot Mikoto and Fugaku so many times, but only shoot Sasuke once?”

Shikaku crossed his arms and looked at the floor. “There are many things about this that don’t make sense.”

Hiashi shook his head; he felt like they were missing something, but he moved on. “If Sasuke did leave on his own, how could he have left in such a short amount of time? Only ten minutes passed between the call and the responding officers arriving.”

Inoichi flipped some pages in his notepad. “Coroner says that based on the liver temps, Mikoto had been dead for about an hour, Fugaku about an hour and a half. Follow-up with the neighbors confirmed that they waited some time after the screams to make the call.”

“If Sasuke left on his own, sir, there was plenty of time to do so between the killers leaving and the police arriving.”

“So Sasuke could very well be alive,” Hiashi said. “Contact every local hospital. I want to know of any young males admitted with a gunshot wound.”

“Yes, sir,” Inoichi said, and he moved away to relay the order. Hiashi turned his attention back to Shikaku.

“What else, Nara?”

“Sir, all the visible evidence points to a robbery gone wrong, but after years of robbery cases, I can’t help but feel that something doesn’t add up. You are right; Sasuke’s single gunshot wound would make sense if the robbers were caught by him, but for them to shoot Mikoto and Fugaku so many times doesn’t. When caught, robbers are more concerned with getting away, not potential witnesses.”

“You think these murders were planned?”

Shikaku nodded slowly. “I think someone wanted the Uchiha family dead.”

“Any other reasons?”

“Nothing stolen. We’ve been over the upstairs, and nothing looks out of place. We’ve collected the laptops and cell phones and have gathered all of Fugaku’s case materials that he’d brought home. We’ll hand them over to Captain Hatake when we get to the office.”

“So why not make sure Sasuke was dead? Why not shoot him as many times as Mikoto and Fugaku?”

Shikaku sighed. “That, sir, might not be a question we can answer until we find the killers.”

The other officers got louder in the living room, hailing someone as he came in, so Hiashi and Shikaku made their way back. As the man moved to stand over the bodies, the other officers quieted and backed away.

“Chief Namikaze,” Hiashi said as he neared him.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice quiet and strained.

“Forced entry, eight shots, two bodies.” He got closer so he wouldn’t be heard by the other officers. “Nara thinks it’s a hit. From the evidence, the son was also shot, but we have no body.” Minato looked up at that, his blue eyes bright and sharp. He nodded, indicating that he wanted this discussion moved. Hiashi motioned to Shikaku and Inoichi to follow them as they went back into the kitchen.

Once there, Minato leaned over the sink, his knuckles white where his hands gripped the counter and his blond hair falling forward to hide his face. “A hit?”

Hiashi nodded at Shikaku to explain. “Yes, sir. The excessive amount of gunshots in the bodies leads me to believe that it was not a robbery attempt.”

“Don’t professionals try to kill in the least amount of shots?”

“Yes, sir, but when trying to make it look like a robbery, I’m sure they would forgo hitting one vital spot for instant death and hitting several non-vital spots for the victims to bleed out.”

“And Sasuke?”

“Unknown. We have a medical alert called in to all the local hospitals for a gunshot victim in case he left on his own,” Hiashi said.

“Sir, what are we going to tell the media? There are already several news vans out front. This is going to be a high profile case. Not only was Fugaku a well-known officer, but his brother…” Inoichi trailed off uncertainly.

Minato straightened and turned to look at them. “We’ll keep it as robbery for now. If it was a hit, no need to let them know we’re investigating anything more serious than tracking down some punks.”

“And Sasuke?” Shikaku asked. “The media could help us find him if he is alive, but it will also notify the shooters.”

Minato looked down and let out a sigh. “Let’s try to find Sasuke on our own for now. Announce the murder of the Uchiha family without specific names, let the media assume what they will, and answer all questions with the standard reply that it’s an ongoing investigation.” After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “Make up a third body bag and let the media see it along with the other two. It’ll buy us some time to find him. And if we’re lucky, maybe it’ll throw the shooters off their guard enough to slip up somewhere.”

“Yes, sir,” Hiashi and the others said together, and Inoichi and Shikaku left to make sure everyone in the house understood what was going to happen. Hiashi looked at Minato and watched as he brought a hand up and rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Minato,” he said softly, concern and shared sadness coloring his voice.

“I can’t believe he’s dead, Hiashi,” Minato whispered. He crossed his arms over his chest, hugging himself. “He was my best…” He cut himself off and looked away.

Hiashi nodded and changed the subject. “Who should we notify as the next of kin?”

Minato looked up at him, his eyes wide before they cut to the side, something that Hiashi didn’t miss. He licked his lips, hesitating, before he said, “We are under no legal obligation to notify the next of kin. Let’s focus on finding Sasuke first.” He paused a moment, his brow wrinkling in thought. Hiashi studied him closely in the dim light from the hall. Whether or not they found Sasuke alive, Itachi would be the next of kin, and he wondered if that had caused the sudden nervousness in Minato’s manner.

“Besides,” Minato continued, “The media is about to notify them for us.” He sighed as he eased himself back against the counter. “Do we know if this was targeted against a specific person?”

Hiashi shrugged. “If Nara is right about it being a hit, there’s no telling if they were after someone specifically and shot them all, or if the entire Uchiha family is in danger.” 

Minato snorted softly through his nose. “If they’re after the entire Uchiha family, they might want to think twice before targeting Madara.”

“But, in my opinion, it may have been Fugaku they were after,” Hiashi added after a moment.

Minato looked at him sharply. “Why would you say that?”

“I’m bothered by the fact that Sasuke was only shot once, while Mikoto and Fugaku were sprayed with bullets. I’m bothered by the fact that Fugaku was the one that died first, even though Mikoto was shot more times. Sir, I’m just bothered by this whole thing.”

“I guess your concerns are valid,” Minato said quietly.

There was an odd note in Minato’s voice that puzzled Hiashi, one he recognized as Minato having information, as Chief, that he couldn’t or wouldn’t share. But instead of pressing for information, he merely said, “Yes, sir,” and made to leave. He’d taken one step when Minato doubled over and groaned. “Sir?” he asked as he moved closer.

Minato shook his head. “I was just thinking of the other notification I have to make. Kushina and Mikoto were like sisters. And if I can’t find Sasuke alive, I don’t even want to think about what Naruto will do.”

Hiashi hummed in understanding, though he didn’t think he’d have the same problems. While his daughters had grown up with Sasuke, Hiashi got the feeling that the boy wasn’t very well liked in general. 

“All right, let’s wrap up here so the bodies can be removed. I’ll be at home if anything comes up,” Minato said as he pushed off of the counter.

“Yes, sir,” Hiashi said and followed Minato from the kitchen. Minato paused by the entrance to the living room and gave the bodies one last glance before continuing down the hall toward the front door. As he watched Minato leave, the flashes of cameras lighting his retreating figure, Hiashi began to give the officers very specific instructions as to how this crime scene would play to the media.

~*~

Naruto’s alarm went off at 6:45. The only reason he even knew it had gone off was because he was wide awake and staring at Sasuke’s contact information on the screen while his earbuds fed his angst-puppy playlist into his ears. He swiped his finger across the screen of his phone to silence the alarm, and after a few seconds of wishing he could stay in bed, he sluggishly dragged himself from beneath the covers and headed to the bathroom.

On the way, he turned on the TV to catch any updates on the weather or traffic and made sure the volume wasn’t too loud to aggravate his sleep-deprived state. Shuffling into the bathroom, he emptied his bladder and let his boxers slip to the floor so that he could jump straight into the shower. The blissfully hot water pouring over his skin allowed Naruto to waken enough to tackle the day ahead. And the memories.

_How **dare** that son of a bitch come to my place and demand to be let in after the way he acted! He should be grateful I didn’t open the door and punch his face in!_

Naruto poured his shampoo and body wash into his hand and furiously washed himself, his anger at Sasuke continuing to grow.

_If he comes looking for me today, I’m going to seriously kick his ass._

He shut off the water and got out, snagging a towel from the rack above his toilet and hastily rubbing it over his body and then vigorously over his short blond hair. He hung it back and stood in front of the sink to brush his teeth. As he did so, he couldn’t help but think of Sasuke’s visit earlier in the morning.

_[Naruto, I need you to open the door.]_

Naruto frowned at his reflection. _That was odd, though. Usually Sasuke would be all, “Hn, idiot, open the damn door.”_ He leaned over and spit the toothpaste out, rinsing with mouthwash before walking out of the bathroom.

He paused in front of the TV long enough to see that the weather girl predicted sunny days through the end of the week before walking into his closet to dress. He pulled on a pair of boxers and a pair of jeans before selecting an orange T-shirt and pulling it over his head. He ran a hand through his still damp locks and walked out of his closet toward the small kitchen. He reached for a coffee mug from his dish rack and pulled a single serve cup from his coffee carousel. He flipped the top of his coffee machine and placed the cup inside. Closing the lid, he placed his mug under the dripper and pressed the button for the biggest mug. He turned around and leaned against the counter, his eyes flitting to the TV screen.

_“Continuing this morning’s breaking news, a family murdered in their home in the early morning hours. Police gave a statement at the scene regarding the shooting of decor—”_

His coffee began to brew, so he turned around and reached for the cream and sugar and grabbed a spoon from the drawer. The last spurts of water shot out, and Naruto grabbed his mug from the machine, adding the cream and sugar quickly and stirring it all together as the reservoir sucked in more water. Tossing the spoon in the sink, Naruto left the kitchen with his coffee and wandered over to the living area to shut off the TV.

_“—officers at the scene have released little details into their investigation, but are led to believe that this was a robbery—”_

Naruto replaced the remote on the table and moved to grab his bag as he sipped at his coffee. Why he’d signed up for early classes, he’d never know. He frowned as he picked up his phone from his nightstand.

_Well, I signed up for early classes so that I could do my homework during the day and spend my nights with the Über Bastard. Naruto’s frown turned into a scowl. Well, when His Pissiness deigned to call me or come over._

Scrolling through the news feed on his phone, he noticed he had a missed call from his mother. Pulling up his call history, he saw that she had called several times since a little after four in the morning, so he tapped her name and put his ear to the phone, wincing slightly as he downed the rest of his coffee and placed the mug on the side table. He grabbed his wallet and keys and slipped on his shoes as the phone rang on the other end.

_“Naruto? Why the hell haven’t you been answering your phone?”_

Naruto rolled his eyes to the ceiling and momentarily wished he hadn’t called her as he opened his front door and walked out. He closed his eyes and sighed before answering, “Some people sleep at night, Mom.” Not that he’d been sleeping. He’d been studying, and then Sasuke had knocked on his door close to three, so he’d been listening to his playlist and periodically thinking of calling the bastard when his alarm had gone off. He shook his head and didn’t even wait for the door to close and lock itself behind him before walking quickly toward the elevator.

_“Naruto, we need to talk. Can you come to the house?”_

Naruto pressed the call button for the elevator. “Not right now. I have class.”

_“You have class at nine. It’s only 7:15. Just swing by the house, Naruto, please.”_

The elevator doors on his left slid open, so he strolled in and hit the button for the garage. “I have a test today, Mom. I want to use the little time I have to study.” He sighed. “Listen, Mom, I’m in the elevator going to the garage. I’m gonna hang up.”

_“No, Naruto, don’t—”_

Naruto ended the call and slipped his phone in his back pocket. He kind of felt bad, but he’d go by the house after his classes and apologize. _Maybe I’ll take some of those pastries from Chouji’s mom’s bakery that she really loves._

The elevator stopped and opened, allowing Naruto to step into the garage. He walked over to his little blue sedan and, tossing his bag into the passenger seat, climbed in and started the car. As he reached over to shift into reverse, he noticed a pair of sunglasses on the console. Picking them up, he studied them before realizing they belonged to Sasuke. Grunting as he tossed them into the backseat, Naruto backed out of his parking space and headed to the exit.

_What if the asshole came to apologize last night? Maybe I should have opened the door._

Naruto shook his head and exited the garage. Now was not the time to think about it. He really did have a test that he wasn’t so confident about, so he needed to get to the classroom quickly and cram. All thoughts about that heartless dick could wait.

Traffic wasn’t that bad this early in the morning, so Naruto made it to campus a little before eight. That would give him a solid hour to study. There were a few of his classmates that met early every class to study, so maybe he’d study with them; they always seemed to grasp the material that usually gave him trouble. He swung by the coffee shop in the management building first, needing another hit of caffeine, before quickly walking to the classroom.

Upon opening the door, he froze as the sound of someone crying hysterically inside hit him. At the end of the first row of seats, a group of girls tried to console Ino as she cried her eyes out. Naruto snapped out of his surprise and rushed over to see what had happened.

“What’s wrong with Ino?” he asked as he came up behind Sakura and Hinata.

Sakura turned red eyes his way, tear marks staining her cheeks. When she realized it was him, her eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing here, Naruto?”

“Me? What do you mean? We have a test. What’s wrong with Ino?” He nodded his head in her direction.

“You don’t,” she started, “Oh, um, Naruto,” but she couldn’t finish. She started crying, too, and Hinata wrapped her in a hug as she began to cry in earnest.

“What the hell?” he said, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.

“Naruto!”

Naruto swung his head around at his name and saw Kiba running down the stairs from the back of the lecture hall. When he hit the floor, he waved Naruto over away from the girls. Glancing at Ino and Sakura one more time, he walked over to Kiba. “Kiba, what the hell is going on?”

“Naruto, dude, how can you not know? Your dad’s the Chief of Police.”

Naruto stilled at that. He swallowed. “Did… did something happen to my dad?” he asked hesitantly, mentally kicking himself for hanging up on his mom. 

Kiba shook his head. “No, it’s… not your dad, Naruto. I just thought he… would have told you. Or that you would have heard it on the news.”

Naruto furrowed his brow in thought. “No, I didn’t really hear the news this morning. I was trying to get out of the house.”

He saw Kiba swallow nervously. “Man, I don’t know how to tell you this. Maybe you should go home.”

Naruto grit his teeth. “Kiba, what the fuck is going on?”

Kiba shook his head again and looked at Naruto helplessly. Hinata sidled up next to them and hesitantly placed a hand on Naruto’s arm. “Naruto, my father told me and Hanabi this morning that… Sasuke and his parents were found dead last night in their home,” she whispered, squeezing his arm tightly.

“What?” he asked. He laughed as he turned to face her. “That’s a pretty mean joke for someone like you, Hinata.”

“I’m so sorry, Naruto,” she said as tears began to cloud her eyes. “It’s not a joke.”

“What? Hinata…” He took in the look on hers and Kiba’s faces. He heard Ino and Sakura still crying behind him. “You’re lying,” he whispered. “That bastard can’t be… why would you _say_ something like that?” He ended up yelling the last, causing Hinata to flinch and release his arm. Kiba reached up and settled a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Keep cool, man. This is why I told you to go home. Come on, I’ll take you. Hinata will let Iruka know.”

Naruto shrugged off Kiba’s hand and reached into his pocket for his phone. He unlocked the screen and pulled up his browser, typing ‘Uchiha’ into the search bar. Instantly he could see several links to news websites and video clips. He tapped one with his finger. The clip was from the news channel he watched in the mornings.

_“Continuing this morning’s breaking news, a family murdered in their home in the early morning hours. Police gave a statement at the scene regarding the shooting of decorated officer Fugaku Uchiha, his wife Mikoto, and their youngest son Sasuke. Our own correspondent was at the grisly scene this morning.”_

The video switched to a pre-taped segment. It was dark, but Naruto could recognize the Uchihas’ house through the flashing of squad car lights. Officers wheeled three stretchers out of the house, and Naruto’s breath froze in his lungs.

_“A quiet neighborhood is rocked early this morning with the deaths of police officer Fugaku Uchiha, his wife Mikoto, and their son Sasuke. The officers at the scene have released little details into their investigation, but are led to believe that this was a robbery gone wrong—”_

Naruto stopped the video, his hands shaking too much to clearly see it anymore. Or maybe it was the tears that stung his eyes. Almost as if on autopilot, Naruto put his phone back in his pocket. But that’s all he could do. He just stood there, staring at nothing.

“Come on, Naruto. I’ll take you home.”

Naruto didn’t resist the tug on his arm. He followed Kiba to the door and out. He didn’t register the walk to the car or the trip home, but the black and white in front of his apartment got his attention. Shikamaru’s dad leaned against it, and when Naruto got out of Kiba’s car, Shikaku immediately straightened and flicked his cigarette to the ground.

Naruto’s throat tightened as he tried to swallow, and it felt like the world was spinning and tilting and coming to a stop all at once.

“Hey, kid. We have some questions for you.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I watch a lot of police procedural and crime dramas? Yes.


	3. Chapter 2

Hiashi rubbed his forehead then his eyes, trying to wake himself up a little more. He’d been staring at the crime scene photos for hours, trying to find any other clues that could help figure out what the hell had happened. None of the hospitals had admitted any young men with gunshot wounds, so it was looking more and more that Sasuke had either been taken or hadn’t made it to… wherever he might have been going.

Something being set down on his desk had him opening his eyes, and he saw Commander Sarutobi removing his hand from a mug of coffee. The old man smiled sadly at him and nodded at the mug. “Drink up. We need to be alert.”

Hiashi nodded as he reached for the coffee. “What brings you down here, Commander?”

Hiruzen hummed thoughtfully as he leaned against Hiashi’s desk. “In exchange for Minato keeping his mind on the entire police force, as per his position, I promised to help out Homicide. And just so you know, Asuma and the entire S.W.A.T. are awaiting a go from you to take out anyone suspected of killing the Uchihas.”

“Keep your son on a leash, Commander,” someone drawled behind Hiruzen. Both men looked over at Captain Hatake. “Despite everyone’s determination to avenge a fallen brother, Morino and his FID dogs will bury us in red tape if we don’t do this by the book.”

Hiruzen chuckled softly. “Well, Ibiki will only be doing his job, but I will so warn Asuma if it will make you happy, Kakashi.” Hiashi smiled slightly at the thought of Ibiki and Asuma glaring at each other over an interrogation table.

“Happy doesn’t begin to describe it,” Kakashi said drily, giving a quick roll of the eyes as he pushed off from the door jamb of his office against which he’d been leaning with his arms crossed. He walked the few feet to Hiashi’s desk and looked at the pictures splayed out on the top of it. “Nara said you were bothered by the way the shooting played out. Have you seen anything in the pictures that would help you in that regard?”

Hiashi shook his head. “No, sir, I don’t see anything here that I didn’t already make note of at the crime scene.”

“What exactly bothers you?” Hiruzen asked.

Hiashi sighed as he laid a hand on top of a picture of Fugaku’s body. “Above all else, I want to know why Sasuke was only shot once. If this was a hit,” he said, pausing only long enough to deduce the best way to phrase his confusion, “ _Why_ was someone left alive?”

“We don’t know if Sasuke _is_ alive,” Kakashi said as he leaned over Hiashi’s shoulder and picked up a picture of the lone casing from Sasuke’s shooting. “But a thought occurred to me earlier while I was going through Uchiha’s open cases.” He paused as his eyes roved over the other pictures on the desk. “There aren’t a whole lot of bad guys out there who would go after Uchiha, for fear of being caught by one side or… the other.”

Hiashi nodded as he realized what Kakashi was hedging around, but specifically _not_ saying. The leaders of the local gangs and their veteran underlings would never go after Fugaku for fear of being caught by a really good cop… or facing the wrath of the really good cop’s brother. But the brazen upstarts of the gangs, the cocky low-level grunts that want to prove themselves… they just might. Smiling slightly at the thought of any kind of lead, no matter how small, Hiashi made a mental note to have Inoichi run through the gang member database for younger associates; young gang members could provide some link to Sasuke.

Kakashi put the photo back down, and Hiashi began to gather them together as he asked, “Did you find anything interesting on the phones and laptops Nara collected?”

Kakashi didn’t immediately answer, and Hiashi noticed the pause, so he glanced up from his desk to ask the question again when Kakashi finally said, “Interesting? Yes. Helpful? No. No strange phone calls or text messages on Uchiha’s phone or his wife’s that would at least give us some path to follow.” Kakashi stood straighter and scratched at his scalp.

Hiashi was going to ask about anything found on Sasuke’s phone, but before he could say anything further, Hiashi’s phone rang. Excusing himself, Hiashi picked up his phone. “Hyuuga.”

_“Sir, we’ve received a call from an apartment building reporting blood smears in the elevator and on a tenant’s door. I would have rolled a unit on patrol, but the building is only a few blocks from the Uchihas’ house. I thought it might be important to your case.”_

“Yes, thank you. Roll Nara and Yamanaka. I’ll meet them there.”

_“Yes, sir.”_

He hung up his phone and stood. “I have a possible lead. I’ll keep in touch.” They both nodded at him, their faces grim, and he strode out of the room as he put on his suit jacket. He took the elevator down to the garage and slid into his non-descript vehicle. His phone sounded in his pocket, so he pulled it out to see the message Shikaku had sent him. It was the address to the apartment building. He laughed quietly at himself since he’d overlooked that small detail and pulled out of his spot and sped through the garage.

The building was relatively close to the police station, so he pulled up behind the black and white in about fifteen minutes. Shikaku and Inoichi were waiting for him, and after nodding a greeting, they led the way inside.

“The manager arrived at the leasing office at about half past seven this morning and noticed blood on the front door and in the middle of the corridor,” Inoichi explained, pointing out the marked off places as they walked to the elevator. “Further inspection found blood spatters by the elevator.” The three of them ducked under the yellow tape that cordoned off the right elevator. “There are large smears of blood in the car. An inspection of each floor found more blood on the ninth floor.” Inoichi pressed the button with a gloved finger, and the elevator doors closed as it moved up.

“Where is the manager?” Hiashi asked.

“He’s waiting at the apartment that has the rest of the blood. He said he didn’t want to go in without the police in case there’s a body.”

Hiashi nodded. The elevator slid to a stop, and the doors opened with a low sound. He spotted a man standing at a door down the hallway on the left, and Shikaku and Inoichi led him that way. As they neared, he saw the blood on the door, and there was a dark stain on the carpet in front of it.

“Lieutenant, this is the building manager Tazuna. Sir, this is Lieutenant Hyuuga.”

Tazuna nodded. “Thanks for coming. I didn’t really know what to do when I saw all this blood.”

“You did the right thing. Please open the door.” As Tazuna moved to unlock the door, Hiashi, Shikaku, and Inoichi pulled their guns and held them ready. When he pushed the door open, they motioned for Tazuna to step back and carefully entered the home. They cleared all of the rooms, not finding anything suspicious. They holstered their guns, and Hiashi called for Tazuna to enter. “There’s nothing here. Who lives here?”

Tazuna grunted, seeming relieved that they hadn’t found anything. “This apartment is rented to Naruto Uzumaki.”

Hiashi froze at the name. He looked over at Shikaku and Inoichi, and their faces also wore shocked expressions. Trying to rein in his surprise, Hiashi nodded at Tazuna. “Thank you. Please head downstairs and shut off the elevator so that we can get Forensics over here.” Tazuna nodded and left. “Yamanaka, call the Chief and ask him to get his son here. Nara, go downstairs and wait for him.” Both nodded. Shikaku left the apartment, and Inoichi slipped his phone from his belt and placed the call.

As Inoichi dialed and waited for Minato to pick up, Hiashi wandered over to the front door. He didn’t know what he was looking for exactly, but it seemed odd that Naruto hadn’t alerted someone to the presence of blood outside of his apartment.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Chief, but we have a new lead in the Uchiha case.” Inoichi paused as Minato supposedly asked a question. “Lieutenant Hyuuga asked me to call you because the lead brought us to your son’s apartment.”

_“WHAT?”_

Hiashi flinched with Inoichi at Minato’s enraged outburst. He decided he’d let Inoichi handle calming Minato down as he knelt down to get a better look at the lock. The apartments in this building weren’t exactly cheap, and so Hiashi wasn’t too surprised to see that the door was fitted with an auto-lock; you didn’t need a key to lock it, only to get in. So Naruto wouldn’t necessarily have turned around and seen the door when he exited. 

“Sir, there are no signs of anything suspicious inside the apartment, but there are blood stains outside the apartment. We want to question Naruto and were wondering if you could call him back home.”

Minato said something, and Inoichi hung up the phone. “He said he’ll get Naruto here, but that he’s also coming. He hasn’t yet informed Naruto of what happened.”

Hiashi grimaced slightly at the thought as he picked himself up and walked back over to Inoichi. He’d told his daughters this morning, and Hinata had broken down in tears. He’d been at a loss as to how to comfort her, but Hanabi had been able to calm her down, and both girls had left for school.

Inoichi must have been thinking along the same lines, because he turned to Hiashi and said, “Ino didn’t take the news so well. Her mother forced her to go to class this morning since she has a test, but I doubt she’ll stop crying for days.” He paused. “I hear from her that Sasuke and Naruto were close. I wonder if the Chief will tell the kid the truth, that he might not be dead.”

Hiashi grunted. Revealing that information wasn’t exactly safe for Sasuke, but it wasn’t his call to make. “Well, I’ll leave it to the Chief. We’ll just ask Naruto some questions and find out what happened and why Sasuke was here.”

Inoichi looked around them. “There’s no sign that anything was recently wiped clean. If Sasuke came here, I doubt he was inside the apartment.”

“It would make sense, in a way. If he left the house, he would perhaps seek help from a friend.”

“If that’s the case, maybe Naruto wasn’t home. Then he might not be of any help.”

Hiashi sighed, not really having thought that the boy might not have been home. “He might at least be able to tell us other places Sasuke might go.”

“Shit! Is that blood?” someone yelled from the hall.

Hiashi and Inoichi turned at the sound, listening as Shikaku told someone to shut up and open the door. After a second, the door swung open, and Shikaku walked in, followed by a young man with shaggy brown hair and Naruto. 

Naruto looked pale, Hiashi noticed, and his eyes were riveted to the blood on his door. Shikaku whistled at him, snagging his attention, and motioned for the boy to join them in the apartment. Naruto swallowed and did so, shutting the door behind him.

Hiashi walked forward, his hand outstretched in greeting. “Naruto, thank you for coming. You got here quicker than I expected.”

Naruto shook his head as he took Hiashi’s hand. “Kiba brought me home. Shika’s dad told me you were calling my dad to get me here, but we were already on the way. He called on our way up.”

Hiashi nodded. “I’m sure he told you that he’d be here shortly. In the meantime, I have some questions.”

“This is about Sasuke, isn’t it?” he whispered as he gazed at the floor.

“Before we tell you what we know, tell us what you know, Naruto. You seemed surprised by the blood on your door. When was the last time you were home?”

Naruto wiped his palms on his jeans. “I was home last night. This morning. I was distracted when I left this morning. Talking with my mom on the phone. I never saw my door.”

“So you were home last night. Did you have any visitors?”

Naruto’s eyes widened and, to Hiashi’s shock, filled with tears. “Sasuke was here!” he said. “He was here! H-he knocked on my door at like, three this morning. I wouldn’t… wouldn’t let him in!” His breathing became labored, and he was unable to inhale. Hiashi quickly directed him to a chair at the nearby table.

“Breathe, Naruto. In and out.” He rubbed Naruto’s back. “Calm down, Naruto. It’s fine. Did Sasuke say anything to you?”

Naruto violently shook his head, still trying to breathe normally. “He knocked. Asked me to open the door. I didn’t. He went away.” Tears slid down his cheeks.

“It’s okay, Naruto. You did nothing wrong. Now, he didn’t say why he was here or where he was going?”

Naruto shook his head again. Hiashi looked up to make sure Inoichi and Shikaku were paying attention. They nodded for him to continue, but before he could ask another question, the door swung open again. Minato walked in, and when he saw Naruto, he rushed over and knelt in front of him.

“Hey, Naruto, hey, champ,” he crooned.

“D-Dad! Sasuke, h-he’s dead! Sasuke’s dead!” Naruto reached out to grab Minato’s arms, his fingers digging into his father’s sleeves. 

“Shh, Naruto, it’s okay.” Minato stood and hugged Naruto. His arms still around his son, he glanced at Hiashi. “Hyuuga?”

“Sir, I began questioning Naruto a few minutes ago, asking him when he was last home and if he had visitors last night. He’s informed us that Sasuke did come by at around three this morning.”

“I want to see Sasuke!” Naruto yelled into Minato’s stomach, his fingers clutching the man’s shirt.

“Hush, Naruto,” Minato said softly.

“I won’t believe it until I see his body!”

Hiashi knew how the boy felt. Without Sasuke’s body, there really was no way to know if the boy was dead or alive. Minato caught his eye and motioned to Naruto. Hiashi nodded, letting his superior know that his questions for Naruto could wait. Minato squeezed Naruto and turned to the other boy in the room.

“Kiba, please take Naruto to our house. His mother is waiting for you.”

“Yes, sir,” the boy—Kiba—replied, moving to Naruto’s side and hovering as Minato tried to get Naruto to let go of his shirt.

“Hey, kid, listen to me,” Minato said sternly. Naruto finally pulled away, sniffling as he looked up at his father. “We will do everything in our power to solve this. But you know you can’t see the bodies until the notification is made. We’ve yet to locate the next of kin.” He smiled sadly and ran his hand through Naruto’s hair. “Now go home and rest. We’ll talk later.”

Naruto looked like he wanted to argue, but he eventually nodded and stood from the chair. He and Kiba walked to the door, and when it opened, Naruto’s attention was again snared by the blood on the door. Kiba prodded him forward as he mumbled something close to the boy’s ear, and Naruto eventually continued into the hallway and turned toward the exit.

The door closed, and Minato turned to them. “Sasuke was here at three?”

Inoichi nodded and stepped forward, his notepad in his hand. “The coroner put time of death for Mikoto at around 2:15AM. If she was able to patch Sasuke up, he may have had time to leave and come to Naruto’s apartment, arriving around three.”

“If he was wounded and in shock, it may have taken a while to get here,” Shikaku added.

“If he came here, where is he now?” Minato asked.

“Naruto confirmed he came here, but says he refused him entrance. He says Sasuke only asked to be let in and when Naruto refused, he left,” Hiashi related the information they’d gained from the boy.

“And we have no idea where he went after that,” Minato finished for them.

“When Naruto has calmed down, I would like to continue our talk to determine any places he may know that Sasuke would go.”

“Any chance that Sasuke would go to Madara?” Shikaku asked. They looked at him in surprise. He shrugged. “If he’s smart—which we know he is—he knows what Madara does for a living. He knows he could receive help if he showed up on his doorstep.”

Minato seemed to mull that over, his brow creased in thought. After a pause, he shook his head. “I don’t see how Sasuke would know how to even get in touch with Madara. Fugaku cut ties with that side of the family long before he entered the academy.”

Hiashi’s phone suddenly rang, and he excused himself as he stepped aside to answer it. “Hyuuga.”

_“Detective, this is Tsunade Senju calling from Konoha General Hospital.”_

Hiashi furrowed his brow in confusion; he knew the name, but couldn’t immediately think of a reason why she would be calling him. “What can I do for you?”

_“My assistant has just informed me that the police have asked for any information on young men admitted to local hospitals with gunshot wounds.”_

Hiashi’s eyes widened. “I was informed that your hospital had no such admissions.”

Tsunade didn’t immediately answer, but eventually said, _“That is strictly true. No one had a cause of admittance as a gunshot wound. But last night I had a John Doe come in, hit by a car. During surgery prep, we found a bullet lodged in his torso. He lost a lot of blood from the gunshot and suffered several contusions from the accident.”_

Hiashi’s heart started racing as she recounted the incident. “John Doe, you say. No ID?”

_“Nothing that came in with him. But I would have to be blind not to know who he is.”_

Hiashi whirled around and motioned to the others as he walked back over to them. “Where is he now?”

_“A private room with restricted access, per my orders.”_

“Excellent. I’m on my way now.” He ended the call and smiled at his colleagues. “I think we’ve found our wayward victim.”

“Sasuke?” Minato asked hopefully.

“More than likely. That was the Chief Surgeon and director of Konoha General. She said she operated on a John Doe last night who had a bullet in his torso. I’m going to verify his identity now.”

Minato nodded. “Do that, and let me know the second you’re sure either way. Hopefully I can give Naruto some good news fairly soon.” He frowned. “No, the priority is to protect Sasuke and solve the case.” He looked at Hiashi. “If it’s Sasuke, work with the hospital on a cover ID for now. We’ll keep him under wraps until we know more. If he’s coherent, see what he can tell us.”

“Yes, sir,” Hiashi said, motioning for Shikaku and Inoichi to head out first. “I’ll call the Captain and let him know what’s going on.”

“You concentrate on this. I’ll swing by Homicide and fill them in.” Minato turned to leave.

“Thank you, sir,” Hiashi said as he followed Minato out of the apartment. “Nara, stay here and get this door and carpet covered so as not to cause panic. The elevator is to stay out of commission and cordoned off. Get Forensics to rush the scene downstairs so that the building manager can get it cleaned up. Yamanaka, you’re with me.”

“Yes, sir,” they both said. They all trekked down the hall to the stairs and took them down to the lobby. Shikaku immediately sought out Tazuna, while Hiashi, Inoichi, and Minato continued outside. Minato said goodbye and got into his car. Hiashi watched until he was out of sight before getting into his own vehicle, waiting for Inoichi to buckle up before he drove away.

~*~

Karin hadn’t exactly felt like sunshine and rainbows when she’d woken up, but as she watched the looping coverage of the Uchiha shooting, she felt like she could easily vomit all of her internal organs if she only opened her mouth.

_There’s… there’s no way! No way Sasuke could be dead!_

She watched as that horrible liar on the screen went on about the deaths of the Uchiha family. She watched as the neighbors who’d made the 911 call were interviewed and asked about the horrific screaming they’d reported hearing and shook their heads as they quipped that it was a shame to lose a boy that young.

She watched—and started crying—as film of three black bags being wheeled out of the Uchiha house and loaded into coroner’s vans played on the screen. She stared, unblinking, at the last bag loaded into a van, unsure that it held Sasuke’s body, but staring all the same.

Karin felt it, a horrible rage swelling within her as more people came on the screen to hypothesize as to the why and how of the crime. She clenched the remote control in her hand, hearing it creak the slightest bit in her grip, before she hurled it at the television, causing the small flat screen to teeter and crash to the floor.

She whirled around and grabbed her phone off the coffee table, angrily punching in her passcode to unlock it before scrolling through her contacts for the number she wanted.

As the phone rang on the other end, she ground her teeth together, tension coiling within her and waiting to explode with every second that passed. After what seemed like _forever_ , a groggy voice answered on the other end, asking what the hell she wanted.

Narrowing her eyes, she practically screamed into the phone, “You killed him, you son of a bitch!”

~*~

Kiba hung back as Naruto and his mom hugged each other at the door. Kushina’s face bore visible signs of her distress, with red-rimmed eyes and tear tracks. Naruto clung to his mother, though he was much taller than the petite woman so had to hunch in order to bury his face in her neck.

Kiba looked away, not sure what he should do. He didn’t want to leave Naruto alone, but the Namikaze household had always been much closer to the Uchiha household than any others, and so he felt that he didn’t really belong here at the moment. 

“Kiba, come inside,” Kushina said. He looked up and saw that Naruto had already gone inside. Kushina smiled at him, the action a little tired but not forced, so he nodded and entered. “Thank you for bringing Naruto home. I know you also had that test today; I’m sorry that you missed it, but I’m sure Iruka will understand.”

Kiba laughed nervously. “I certainly hope so.”

Kushina patted him on the back and closed the door. She looked over at Naruto just standing in the foyer looking at the floor and frowned. “Naruto, honey, let’s go into the kitchen and get you something to eat.”

Naruto shook his head slowly. “I’m not hungry, Mom,” he said, his voice thick with unshed tears. “I just want to go to my room.”

“Okay, honey. Let me know if you get hungry or want something to drink. Kiba,” she said, turning back to him, “Would you like something?”

“Uh, no, ma’am, I’m fine,” he said, watching as Naruto slowly made his way upstairs. “I’ll just stay with Naruto for now.”

“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.” She patted Kiba on the back again, and he headed up the stairs after Naruto. He walked down the hallway and pushed open Naruto’s door. Naruto was curled on his window seat, his knees hugged to his chest as he stared out of the window.

Kiba knew to leave him to himself for now, so he closed the door and moved over to Naruto’s desk, powering on the computer as he sat in the chair. As the computer booted up, Kiba thought back on the events of the morning.

He’d woken up to the sound of his mother’s coffee mug shattering on the floor and Akamaru’s barking. Then he’d been told that Sasuke, a guy he only mildly tolerated because of Naruto, was dead, and he’d been a lot sadder than he thought he would be. He’d gone to class and seen what he expected—Sakura and Ino crying their eyes out—and what he hadn’t expected—Naruto without a fucking clue.

_Shit, I owe Hinata big time for telling Naruto. I don’t think I could have done it._

Kiba looked at Naruto, who hadn’t moved from his position. He turned back to the computer and logged in to check his email to see if Iruka had sent anything about missing the test. That got him thinking about Hinata’s dad questioning Naruto, and Kiba looked over at Naruto again. He bit his lip, wondering if he should ask the question that was now burning in his mind, before mentally shrugging and turning the chair to face Naruto.

“Um, you okay over there?”

That was a really stupid question, but Kiba was surprised when Naruto laughed, though the sound was brittle and hollow. “That’s the question, isn’t it? Then again, I just keep asking myself, ‘Will I ever be okay again?’”

“Naruto, I want to ask you a question.” Naruto didn’t move. Kiba licked his lips and rubbed his palms on his pants briefly. “Why didn’t you let Sasuke in when he came to your apartment?” It took a moment, but Naruto finally looked at Kiba, his eyes wide and panicked. Kiba put up his hand. “I’m not like, blaming you or anything. I just thought it was strange that you wouldn’t let him in.” He shrugged as Naruto continued to stare at him.

Eventually Naruto straightened and leaned back against the wall. His hands were clasped together in his lap, and he stared at some point past Kiba and said softly, “We had a fight.”

“What?”

Naruto licked his lips. “We had a fight,” he said a little louder, eyes focusing on Kiba. “He’d been at my apartment earlier last night, and we fought. He said some things that hurt me, so when he showed up later, I didn’t let him in when he asked. And now he’s dead.”

Tears fell silently down Naruto’s cheeks, but his body was shaking minutely as he tried to hold back. Kiba jumped up from the chair and rushed over to Naruto, his hand coming up to rest on his shoulder. “That’s not your fault,” he whispered, upset that Naruto was taking this so hard and so personally.

“It certainly _feels_ like my fault,” Naruto said through his tears. “If I had opened the door, maybe I could have gotten him to a hospital or something.”

“But, Naruto…” Kiba trailed off, uncertain that he should finish his thought, but Naruto shouldn’t be blaming himself for something like this. His fingers tightened on Naruto’s shoulder. “Naruto, Sasuke could have called 911 or something instead of coming to your house, especially if he knew you were mad at him.”

It sounded horrible to him even as he said it. How could he shift the blame for his own death onto Sasuke? But… Naruto needed solace, whereas Sasuke was past that kind of healing.

Naruto closed his eyes and cried more, his sobs finally breaking out and loud in his grief—raw, pain-filled sobs that sounded like Naruto felt nothing would ever be right in the world again. His hand reached up to grasp Kiba’s in a tight grip. This was odd to Kiba. It was obvious now that Naruto wasn’t just upset by this; Naruto was fucking _devastated_ by Sasuke’s death. Yes, they were friends, but Kiba didn’t think it warranted this level of reaction. 

Unless… the hunch that Shikamaru had shared with him in the strictest of confidence… was true.

Kiba swallowed nervously before saying, “Naruto,” wanting to confirm Shikamaru’s suspicions, but he stopped. It wasn’t really his business, and even if it was, this wasn’t the time to ask.

So Kiba stood there for several minutes, his hand on Naruto’s shoulder in Naruto’s grasp, until Naruto’s sobs died off. Naruto squeezed his hand and let go, his own falling back into his lap. He released Naruto’s shoulder and leaned back, sticking his hands in his pockets. He looked Naruto in the face, noticing how lifeless his eyes seemed to be as they looked past everything in the room to something beyond sight. Kiba didn’t know what to say to make it better, but after a moment Naruto took a quiet breath and spoke.

“Kiba, have you ever lost something precious to you?”

“W-what?” Kiba stuttered, not expecting such a question. Naruto turned those lifeless eyes on him, and he nearly flinched. “Um, I’ve lost a few pets that I cared a lot for,” he said slowly. When Naruto didn’t respond, seeming to still be waiting for a serious answer, Kiba carefully said, “I guess… not.”

“It feels like I’ve lost the most precious thing in my life, the part of me that completed me and kept me going every day.”

Kiba felt that this was going in a very bad direction. “Naruto,” he asked very quietly, “What are you trying to say?”

“Kiba, you know that Sasuke and I were more than friends, right?”

Momentarily caught off guard, Kiba clenched his hands in his pockets and nodded. “Well, Shikamaru thought so, and I couldn’t find it in myself to say he was _wrong_ , you know?” He paused. “You were, uh, going out?”

Naruto laughed humorlessly. “Nope.” He turned a mirthless smile Kiba’s way. “Just a fuck buddy thing. But…” Naruto stopped and swallowed, his eyes moving to look at his hands in his lap. “I really love… loved him,” he whispered so low that Kiba barely heard him.

_Holy shit._

Kiba swallowed and licked his lips. “Is that what the fight was about?”

“No, not really. But also, yes, in a way.” Naruto shrugged and was quiet for a moment. “He got a text from someone and wouldn’t tell me who.” He paused again. When he spoke again, it was in a quiet, sad tone. “Despite how precious Sasuke was to me, I never really thought that Sasuke needed me as a person, you know? Never really wanted to open up to me as a friend or… something more. And then, when he needed me, when he finally needed me…”

Kiba could only stare helplessly as Naruto started to cry again.

“I told him I didn’t want to see him, Kiba. The last thing he heard before he died was me telling him I didn’t want to see him.”

Kiba looked over at Naruto’s old bed as Naruto wiped furiously at his eyes. He frowned as he tried to think of something to say to that. Eventually, he removed his hands from his pockets and moved closer to Naruto, turning him to face forward and placing his hands on either of his shoulders. “Naruto, there was no way that you could have known this would happen. From your side of the door, you would have seen him in class this morning and maybe punched his face in.”

Naruto chuckled lightly as he wiped at his cheeks, the sound still brittle, still hollow, and Kiba released his shoulders and leaned back. “Probably.” He dropped his hand and looked to the side. “Do you think he was mad at me when he died?” he whispered.

Kiba felt his stomach drop at the question. “Naruto,” he whispered hoarsely, “Don’t do that to yourself.”

Before Naruto could reply or, worse, ask another question like that, they heard the front door close downstairs and the rumble of a man’s voice. It only took a second for Naruto to realize it was his dad, and then he was out of the door and down the stairs, crying out for Minato. Kiba quickly followed and reached the bottom of the stairs to see Naruto clinging just as tightly to his dad as he had his mom.

Minato smoothed his hand over Naruto’s hair and shushed his son. “It’s okay, Naruto, it’s going to be okay.” He smiled tiredly over at Kiba. “Hey, Kiba. Thanks for bringing him home.”

“It wasn’t a problem, sir,” he said, his hands in his pockets as he avoided looking at Naruto. Watching him now, _knowing_ he’d lost a lover as well as a friend, really made it sadder than before for him, almost painful to watch.

Minato nodded and patted Naruto on the back. “Come on, son. Let’s move to the living room.” He turned Naruto in his arms and led him into the room off the right of the entrance, motioning for Kushina and Kiba to follow. Again, Kiba wasn’t really sure what he should do, but if Minato had more information, he really wanted to know it. He settled on the couch next to Kushina, who placed her hand on his thigh for a moment in comfort, and turned his attention to Minato, who’d sat on the couch opposite them.

Minato had his clasped hands between his knees as he sat forward. “I don’t even know where to start. Fugaku was a good cop and a good friend. His loss affects me both professionally and personally.” He looked over at Kushina. “It even affects the people I love.” His eyes, tired and sad, moved to Naruto. “This is an ongoing investigation, and IA would have my ass for talking to you about this, so let’s all make sure we understand that nothing I say leaves this room.”

He glanced at Kiba, who swallowed nervously and nodded vigorously as Kushina quietly promised not to speak of it and Naruto nodded as he looked at the ground. Minato nodded and leaned back in his seat, letting out a sigh as he stared at the ceiling.

“We don’t know who did this, or why, but we think whatever this was, it was staged to look like a robbery gone wrong.”

Kiba held in a gasp at what that would mean. Naruto, however, was less reserved.

“You mean someone killed them on purpose?” His eyes were wide and practically begging his dad to say otherwise.

Minato, still looking at the ceiling, sighed again and nodded briefly. “That is what Shikaku thinks.”

“Who would want to kill the Uchihas?” Kushina asked, tears in her eyes.

Minato rolled his eyes down to look at her. He was quiet for a moment before saying, “The sad reality, honey, is that cops often have enemies that seek to harm us after getting busted. Unfortunately, Fugaku had many enemies that might want to kill him.”

“But why Mikoto and Sasuke?” Kushina persisted. Kiba saw Naruto flinch at the boy’s name.

Minato lifted his head. “I’m sorry, Kushina, but when cops are targeted, so are their families.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You know this, right? That’s why Naruto goes by your maiden name, for his protection.”

Kushina nodded and reached for a tissue from the box on the coffee table. She dabbed at her eyes. “So, do you have any leads on who could have done this?”

Kiba watched as Minato’s brow furrowed, as if thinking about the question before answering. Or maybe thinking about his answer. Kiba was one of the few kids in town whose parent wasn’t a cop, but he still knew that cops couldn’t divulge certain information, even to their families, as illustrated by Minato’s warning before he started talking. And Kiba couldn’t help but wonder if there was something he would hide even from his family.

“Not yet,” Minato finally answered. He smiled wanly at Kushina. “But we can always hope a clue falls into our laps.”

Minato’s cell phone rang, and he excused himself to answer it, though he only went as far as the window. Kiba turned to Naruto, who had been rather quiet. Kushina was leaning against his shoulder, her arm around his neck and her fingers petting his hair.

“How are you feeling, dear?”

Naruto shook his head. “I don’t know; a lot of things.” He paused to sniffle and wipe his nose with the back of his arm. “I’m sad. I’m fist-cracking angry. I’m lost. I don’t… know what to do.” He fisted his hands on his legs.

Kushina moved to wrap her other arm around his front and squeezed him tight. “Of course, honey, that’s normal. It’s exactly how I feel and how your dad feels.” She kissed his temple and wiped some tears away from his face. “Come on. Go upstairs and take a nap. I hear your apartment is off limits for now, so you’ll stay here for a bit.”

Naruto practically jerked away from her. “I can’t go back, Mom,” Naruto said suddenly, turning his frantic gaze her way. “I can’t go back there!”

Kushina shushed him. “All right. We’ll figure it out later. For now, just rest.” She rocked Naruto back and forth as she held him. In the quiet that followed, they were able to pick up some of Minato’s conversation.

“Suzuki? All right. I’ll be there later. I have to go to the station and talk to Hiruzen.” Minato turned and looked at them. “Better.” He nodded to something the person said. “I’ll bring him along.” Another nod. “Okay. Goodbye.”

Minato hung up and turned to them. “Naruto, Hiashi has some more questions for you, and I’d like you to go with me to meet him.”

Kushina glared lightly at him. “Naruto is going upstairs to take a nap.”

“Kushina,” Minato said softly but sternly, “This is an official investigation, and Naruto is a witness.” 

Naruto looked uncertainly between his parents, but he finally nodded at his dad. Kushina sighed and whispered something in his ear before pushing him off the couch. Kiba stood up with him.

“I’m gonna head out, Naruto. Go check in with Hinata and the girls.” He looked at Minato. “I promise not to say anything about what you’ve said,” he said with a wry grin, pretty sure the man was going to remind him of his promise not to reveal any details.

Naruto moved over to him and gave him a one-arm hug. “Thanks for your help, Kiba,” he said quietly.

“I didn’t really do anything,” he said, a little embarrassed. Really, what could he possibly have done in a situation like this, where his best friend was suffering the loss of a lover? He pulled away from Naruto, though Naruto’s hand remained on his shoulder, and frowned.

“Just having someone to listen helps, Kiba.” Naruto squeezed his shoulder lightly and let him go.

Kiba couldn’t help a small smile. “Oh, what about your car?” he asked suddenly. “It’s still on campus.”

“I’ll send some officers out to retrieve it,” Minato said. “We’ll walk you out, Kiba. Kushina, I’ll call to let you know if we’ll be home for dinner or not.”

Kushina murmured an acknowledgement, and Minato moved over and put his arm around Kiba’s shoulders, Naruto following behind. He steered him over to the door, and when they were outside, Minato gave him a slight hug. “Thanks for being there for Naruto, Kiba. He’ll need a good friend for the time being.”

“Uh, yes, sir. I don’t know how much help I can really be, but I’ll always be here for him.” He heard Naruto mumble something behind him.

“I’m sure that’s more than enough,” Minato said. He smiled at Kiba, but Kiba noticed it turn into a frown as he turned his gaze away.

They parted ways at Minato’s car in the driveway. Kiba watched them drive away, suddenly uneasy about something, though he didn’t know exactly what. He couldn’t help but feel that Naruto’s dad was hiding something and that, whatever it was, Naruto wasn’t going to like it.

 

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

Hiashi and Inoichi walked into the hospital and stood before the reception desk, waiting for the nurse behind the counter to get off the phone. She hung up shortly and smiled up at them, asking how she could help.

Hiashi pushed back the side of his suit jacket, showing her his badge and gun. “My name is Hyuuga, and we’re here to see Dr. Senju.”

The nurse nodded. “The doctor has been waiting for you in ICU. I’ll take you there.” She turned to another nurse handling charts behind her and told her to take over the main desk. She walked around the desk and led them down the hallway toward the elevators.

“Thank you,” he paused, trying to find a nametag.

The nurse smiled slightly. “My name is Shizune, Dr. Senju’s assistant. She asked me to man the desk to catch you.” She lowered her voice. “I hear this issue needs to be kept to only a few people.”

“Yes,” Hiashi agreed. They stopped at the elevator and waited as the car came down from an upper floor after Shizune pressed the call button. “Do you happen to know how many people are already aware of the situation?”

The elevator doors opened, and they entered the car. As the doors closed and she pressed the button for the ICU floor, Shizune said, “It was the ER, so whoever first assessed him there. Only a few people were in the OR for the patient’s surgery: the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and a nurse. Then there’s the doctor on duty in Recovery and the nurse on duty in the ICU.”

That didn’t sound like a lot, but Hiashi was unhappy with the number all the same. He was sure Tsunade, having expressed her understanding of the situation over the phone, had already told those people not to say a word, and Hiashi had the authority to arrest them for obstruction of justice if they should talk, but it was still risky that even that many people knew.

Hiashi shook his head. He wasn’t even positive that the patient was Sasuke, so he refrained from demanding the names of the people. “Why ICU?” he asked instead.

“The patient, as you can imagine, has several internal injuries, as well as multiple lacerations and contusions in addition to a broken leg. Also,” here she lowered her voice again, “Dr. Senju felt that was where he would be safest.”

The elevator stopped at the ICU. They exited as the doors opened, and, after walking down a short corridor and through the ICU double doors, Hiashi saw a woman in a white coat standing by the reception desk, her blonde hair pulled back into two tails that fell down her back. She finished her conversation with the nurse stationed at the desk, and when she turned, he heard Inoichi whistle softly behind him—probably at how endowed the woman was—and Hiashi whapped him in the stomach. He assumed this was Tsunade and nodded at her.

“Detective,” she said as she moved to meet them, her hand held out.

Hiashi accepted her hand. “Doctor. Thank you for contacting me about your patient.”

“Of course.” She turned on her heel and led them to a room on the right. Two security guards were posted outside, and they nodded at her as she opened the door.

Hiashi, Inoichi, and Shizune followed her inside. Before anything could be said, Hiashi moved over to the bed and gasped quietly.

Sasuke Uchiha lay unmoving in the bed, a heart monitor beeping steadily next to it. He looked very pale, though a dark bruise peeked out from the edges of a large swath of bandage that covered most of his right check, and his head and the arm not under the sheets were wrapped in bandages, too. His right leg was in a cast and elevated above the bed. Tsunade joined him.

“It looks worse than it really is. He’s a lucky boy.” Without looking away, he asked her to recount the incidents. She let out a breath. “EMTs responded to an emergency call a little after three this morning. Car accident. The driver was only banged up a bit, but the pedestrian was bleeding and unresponsive. He was rushed to the ER, where I had him immediately prepped for surgery due to the amount of blood he was losing. Upon removing his clothes, we noticed several torn pieces of cloth tied around his middle.”

Hiashi looked up at that and back at Inoichi, who nodded as he wrote down everything Tsunade said.

“They were soaked in blood,” she continued. She brought her arms up and crossed them over her chest. “Upon removing them, we noticed the bullet wound and immediately checked for an exit. We didn’t find one. We performed the surgery; in addition to removing the bullet and stopping the bleeds, we had to set the leg. It’s amazing he made it through. He’d lost a lot of blood.”

Inoichi joined them next to Sasuke. “How did the car not kill him?”

“People don’t necessarily die from getting hit by a car, you know,” Tsunade snapped. “The question is how did it not cause more damage? The only bone that broke was the leg, and it wasn’t even a compound fracture. After that, the kid only received a few scrapes and bruises from the impact of the car and concrete. It’s more than likely that the blood loss made him unable to tense up upon impact, so there was less damage to his body. What’s really amazing is that the bullet didn’t hit anything vital, though it did enough damage on its own.”

“So what’s his condition now? When will he wake up?” Hiashi asked.

“He’s fine. He woke up once since the anesthesia wore off, but wasn’t fully coherent. When he wakes up again, he’ll be more coherent, but probably in some pain from the wound in his torso.”

Hiashi nodded. “All right. Now I’d like to talk to the staff who know this boy is here.”

Tsunade nodded. “I had a feeling you would.” She turned to Shizune. “Go get them.” The nurse quickly left the room. Tsunade looked at Sasuke. “You think he’s in danger, don’t you?”

Hiashi looked at Inoichi. “We’re not really sure. But until we do know, it would be best to keep him under wraps.”

“Well, we can set him up with a fake name on the charts. It’s no big deal.”

“You have a name in mind?”

Tsunade shrugged. “Does it really need some thought? Suzuki should be good enough.”

The door opened, and Shizune ushered in three men, one of whom was the nurse that had been stationed at the ICU reception desk. They showed varying degrees of disinterest in Hiashi and Inoichi, though they greeted Tsunade.

“Thanks for coming, gentlemen.”

“Well, when the woman who signs your paycheck tells you to heel, it’s best to heel, right?” the man with the long, white hair said smiling. The other two men also smiled at the comment.

“These men are Jiraiya, Yashamaru, and Kabuto,” Tsunade said as she pointed at each. “These men are from the police department,” she said pointing at them.

“Hiashi Hyuuga.”

“Inoichi Yamanaka.”

Jiraiya walked forward and shook their hands. “Are you about to tell us that we operated on a wanted criminal?” he asked as he laughed. “They sure start younger nowadays.”

“Not quite,” Hiashi said with a smile. “Though, I did want to ask if any of you are aware of this man’s identity.”

Jiraiya looked at Sasuke, and his smile fell. Yashamaru walked forward. “I’m rather new here, just relocated from Suna. Is he someone famous?” He leaned over the foot of the bed and stared at Sasuke.

Hiashi grunted. “He may very well be now.” He sighed quietly. “Listen, gentlemen, no one can know that he’s here. He’s part of an ongoing investigation and needs to be kept safe. We’ll be giving him a fake name, and he’ll be kept in this room with a guard.”

“As long as they’re not in my way, I don’t care,” Kabuto said. “I’m sure whatever Tsunade says we’ll be forced to do whether we like it or not.”

“Shut up, brat. He’ll stay in my hospital as long as he’s in need of protection.”

Kabuto shrugged. “Is that all, officers? I’d like to get back to my duties.”

Hiashi nodded. “I don’t imagine we’ll need you any further, but please remain available, just in case.” Kabuto nodded and left. Hiashi turned to Yashamaru and Jiraiya. “The same goes for you two.” Yashamaru bowed his head in agreement and left. Jiraiya stayed behind.

“I saw the news while waiting downstairs. There were three body bags. I’m guessing you want whoever killed his parents to think Sasuke’s dead, too.”

“Part of his protection. No one should look for him if they think he’s dead,” Inoichi said.

“Dr. Senju, if you wouldn’t mind getting the fake name printed on all of his documents, I would appreciate it. While you do that, I have a call to make,” Hiashi said as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Tsunade nodded and left the room with Jiraiya and Shizune.

He stepped away from Sasuke’s bed and dialed Minato’s number. After a few rings, Minato answered. “Sir, it’s Sasuke. He’s alive.”

_“Oh… thank God.”_

Hiashi could hear the extreme amount of relief it brought Minato that Sasuke was alive and smiled. “I’ve talked to some of the hospital staff that had contact with him and have imparted the importance of their silence to them.”

_“Good. How is he?”_

“All right, for the most part. The bullet apparently didn’t hit anything vital, and the impact from the car did minimal damage, other than a slight break in the right leg. He’s been set up in a room in ICU, and Dr. Senju has placed hospital security outside his door.”

_“Oh, Tsunade is taking care of him? He should be all right, then; he’s in good hands.”_

“Yes, sir. But I wanted to ask about replacing the hospital security with police officers and adding some to the ICU entrance.”

_“That sounds fine. I’ll coordinate with Hiruzen to have some uniforms down there in a bit.”_

“Thank you, sir. Also, Dr. Senju is setting Sasuke up with a fake name to afford him some extra protection as we investigate. The name is Suzuki.”

_“Suzuki? All right. Give me half an hour. I’ll go to the station to talk to Hiruzen before I head to the hospital.”_

“How is Naruto?”

_“Better.”_

“Sir, Sasuke’s not conscious, so I’d like to talk to Naruto about anything Sasuke may have said or anything he might have known about his father’s work.”

_“I’ll bring him along.”_

“Thank you, sir.”

_“Okay. Goodbye.”_

“Goodbye, sir.” Hiashi ended the call and looked up at Inoichi. Tsunade and Jiraiya had re-entered the room. “The Chief will be by later. He may want to ask you a few things. Will you be available, doctor?”

“Minato?” She sighed tiredly as she looked at her watch. “I guess I can stay and get some paperwork done.”

“Thank you. Yamanaka, he’ll be bringing Naruto for further questioning.”

“Naruto?” Jiraiya asked, brightening. “I haven’t seen that kid in years. Maybe I’ll hang around, too.”

“Just don’t get in the way,” Tsunade said.

“If it’s all right, I would like to stay with Sasuke, in case he wakes up,” Hiashi asked. He could force the issue, but he wanted Tsunade on his side.

“That should be fine. If he does wake up, don’t call the nurse. Call me.” She motioned for Inoichi’s notepad and jotted her phone number down. “Also let me know when Minato gets here. I’ll send Shizune back to the front desk to wait for him.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay. Yamanaka can wait for the Chief and bring him up.”

Tsunade nodded. “All right. Thank you.” She turned around. “Let’s go, Jiraiya.” Hiashi motioned for Inoichi to go with them and wait for Minato.

When he was alone, he walked over to Sasuke’s bed and pulled up a chair that had been pushed into the corner. He sat down and settled in for a long wait.

“Come on, kid. Wake up soon so we can get some answers.”

~*~

Kabuto returned to his desk and gave a cursory glance back at the room where Tsunade and the detectives were still talking. His eyes traveled to his cell phone sitting on the desk’s surface, and while he knew he had a call to make, he was debating who to call.

Sasuke Uchiha in his hospital was a _big deal_ , and he was thinking very carefully about which call would benefit him more in the long run. But as he continued to think on it, he cringed.

_I should probably be thinking of this in terms of which call will save me from the most danger._

Well, that particular thought decided it. But as he reached for his phone, Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya came out of Sasuke’s room, so he snatched his hand back and placed them over his keyboard.

“Kabuto, make up this patient’s chart with the name ‘Suzuki,’ as well as the accompanying paperwork.”

“Yes, doctor,” he said, giving his phone another quick glance. The call would have to wait.

~*~

Naruto followed behind his dad as they made their way to the Old Man’s office. The looks they received were respectful and sad, from men and women who had known Fugaku Uchiha and how close he and Minato had been, but Naruto couldn’t help but feel how much _he_ had lost with each sad look, and they had no clue.

_Well, Kiba had a clue, thanks to Shikamaru, apparently. Jesus, just what exactly did Sasuke and I do that made it obvious? How many other people know?_

Thinking back on it, now that he was a _little_ calmer, he didn’t know how wise it was to have told Kiba what he had, but Kiba hadn’t seemed grossed out or anything. He seemed to just… take it in stride and move on. And that was comforting, when he thought about it, to know that his friends—because he couldn’t forget about _Shikamaru_ —wouldn’t hate him for his… special relationship with Sasuke.

Naruto pressed his lips together and tried to ignore his thoughts—even just thinking the bastard’s name caused too much pain—and he focused on his dad’s back as they continued down the hallway. As they neared the Old Man’s door, it opened, and out came Hiruzen and Kakashi.

“Chief Namikaze,” Kakashi greeted, “What brings you down here?”

“Kakashi,” Minato returned. “I came to speak with Hiruzen.”

“Of course, Chief. Come on in,” Hiruzen directed, motioning Minato inside. When he moved forward, he revealed Naruto behind him.

Kakashi’s eyes widened slightly, almost imperceptibly, but Naruto saw it and felt like he was about to be in trouble. “Naruto, it’s been a while,” he said, finally smiling, but it was more like an amused grin, and Naruto _knew_ he was about to be in trouble.

“Hi, Kakashi,” he said nervously, trying to edge around his dad into Hiruzen’s office. Before he made it very far, Minato snagged the back of his shirt and pulled him backward toward Kakashi.

“Sorry, Naruto, but Hiruzen and I need to discuss official business. Can you entertain yourself for a bit?”

Naruto opened his mouth to say that he’d rather stay with Minato, but Kakashi quickly put an arm around his shoulder and pulled Naruto against his body.

“Don’t worry, Chief. I’ll keep Naruto out of trouble.”

Minato thanked him and went into the Old Man’s office. Naruto tried to get away, but Kakashi’s grip was firm, and the man dragged him down the hall to the elevator. It opened immediately when Kakashi pushed the call button, and Naruto was hauled into it.

“Let me go, you perverted old man!” Naruto yelled, twisting this way and that to get free. Kakashi let go without warning and laughed as Naruto fell into the side of the elevator. “Where are we going?” he asked sullenly.

“Homicide. We have some interesting evidence that I’d like your opinion on.”

Naruto instinctively knew he wouldn’t enjoy whatever Kakashi had to show him, and he swallowed and tried to calm himself down before he threw up in the elevator.

“Calm down, kid. I’m not judge, jury, and executioner. I just want to discuss the evidence with you.”

The elevator stopped, and Kakashi prodded him forward, directing him to the Captain’s office and motioning for Naruto to sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk as they entered. Kakashi closed the door and took the seat behind the desk and leaned back, his hands joined over his stomach.

“What do you want?” Naruto asked irritably when all Kakashi did was grin at him.

Kakashi leaned forward and opened a drawer, pulling out what looked to be a cell phone in an evidence bag. He set it on his desk and pushed it toward Naruto. “Look familiar?”

Naruto felt his heart stop and fall into his stomach when he recognized Sasuke’s cell phone. He swallowed nervously and reached for it with a shaking hand. Before his fingers touched the bag, Kakashi slammed his hand down on top of it.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He pulled it back toward him. “Imagine my surprise when I checked through the contents of the phone, looking for clues, and ran across some pretty… interesting photos.”

Naruto blushed violently as he thought about what photos might have been on the phone. “That bastard,” he mumbled under his breath on reflex. Then he inhaled sharply and glared at Kakashi. “How did you even get into the phone?”

Kakashi only continued to grin at him like a crazy man. Well, a crazy genius, maybe, and Naruto conceded that the man was smart enough to get around a phone lock. He snorted inelegantly and leaned back in the chair, his arms crossed over his chest. “So what? Am I in trouble?”

Kakashi made a dismissive gesture with his hand as he rolled his eyes. “Please. I’m rather glad to know that you’re not a virgin.”

“I hate you.”

Kakashi grinned at the statement, but then it faded into a sad smile. “I won’t say I wasn’t surprised when I saw the photos.” He paused, his mouth slightly open and his brow furrowed as if he was trying to determine how best to continue, but he only shook his head and said, “This must be hard for you, but I understand that Hiashi didn’t finish his line of questioning. Since I have you here, I’d like to ask some questions. Is that all right?”

Naruto kept himself from flinching. He knew he’d have to face some rigorous questioning at some point, and he supposed Kakashi was better than his dad. Gripping his upper arm with his fingers, Naruto shrugged and waited for Kakashi to start.

“How long had you and Sasuke been dating?”

Naruto did flinch then, and he glared at Kakashi more. “Sasuke and I were not dating.”

Kakashi seemed surprised by the answer, but he continued, “Okay, how long had you two been,” he spun his right hand in the air, looking for the right word, “meeting each other for certain recreational purposes?”

Naruto took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes. “A couple of years, since the beginning of college.”

“And during this ‘couple of years’ period, did your pillow talk ever consist of what cases Fugaku had been working on?”

“Pi-!” Naruto’s eyes snapped open as he stuttered, his arms uncrossing so that he could grab onto the chair’s arms. “Pillow talk!” He couldn’t even respond to that for a moment, shocked as he was by how Kakashi had phrased his question. Sasuke and he had never… well, Sasuke had stayed the night a lot of times, but they’d never… okay, they’d had a lot of conversations in bed, but…

“He never talked about his dad’s cases,” Naruto eventually answered, glaring once again at Kakashi as he relaxed his grip on the chair.

Kakashi nodded. “I’ve heard that Sasuke came to your apartment this morning, but you didn’t let him in. Walk me through what happened leading up to that.”

Naruto thought about his answer—about waking up and forcing Sasuke out of bed because the bastard _was not_ a morning person; about fooling around a little bit in the shower before they went to class; about the brief argument over what to eat for dinner and the huge argument over—

Naruto couldn’t help himself; he started to cry. He tried to hold back the sobs, tilting his face down and gripping his jeans tightly as he tried to gain control over his emotions. Kakashi made no move to comfort him— _the jerk_ —but the fact that someone was watching him lose control gave him the ability to pull himself together. He wiped his face with his arm and the back of his hands and glanced at Kakashi. When his face was mostly dry, he dropped his hands into his lap and sat back, inhaling and exhaling slowly to try to calm back down.

After he thought he could speak without his voice trembling or cracking, he said, “Nothing unusual happened. Went to class, came home, did stuff, and then Sasuke left.”

“About what time was that?”

Naruto shrugged and started to scrape one thumbnail over the other. “He left early, maybe eleven.”

Kakashi hummed in thought. “And came back at three and asked you to let him in, but you didn’t.” He pinned Naruto with a stare, not a harsh one, but one that said he wanted an answer. “Why didn’t you let Sasuke in?”

Naruto inhaled sharply, not prepared for the same question that Kiba had asked. When his friend had asked, he’d felt like he’d been punched in the gut, felt that the question had been accusing him of causing Sasuke’s death. It didn’t sound any different when the captain of the homicide department asked. But Kiba had said that it wasn’t his fault, and despite Naruto’s feelings to the contrary, he was sure Kakashi wasn’t accusing him either with the question.

Naruto dropped his eyes to his hands. “We had a fight. I was angry. I didn’t let him in.”

“Ah,” Kakashi nodded. “A lovers’ spat. I’m familiar with them.” He paused before asking, “What did you fight about?”

Naruto re-crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. “What does it matter? It was stupid, thinking about it now.”

“Humor me.”

Naruto clicked his tongue and looked away. After almost a minute of silence, he let out a breath and looked at the desk in front of him, avoiding eye contact. “He came over last night for…” he stopped and shrugged, sure that Kakashi would understand what Sasuke had come over for. “Afterward, Sasuke—”

He stopped. 

Sasuke got a text from someone.

Naruto refused to glance at Sasuke’s phone.

“Naruto? Sasuke what?”

Naruto cleared his throat. “I asked Sasuke a question, and I guess he thought I was overstepping my bounds or something,” he said derisively, still mad about Sasuke’s unwillingness to share even if he was heartbroken at losing him, “Because he blew up and started saying all this shit about how all I had to do was shut up and, you know, be available.” His breath hitched in his throat as he recalled all the things they’d screamed at each other.

Kakashi was quiet a moment, his brow furrowed in thought. “What question did you ask, Naruto? What set Sasuke off?”

“I don’t remember,” he lied. 

He looked Kakashi in the eyes and knew the man could tell he was lying. But instead of calling him on it, Kakashi only sighed and put the phone back in his desk. “All right, Naruto. That’s all I had for now.”

Naruto uncrossed his arms and nodded. He looked to the side and licked his lips before asking, “Has… anyone else seen the photos?”

Kakashi chuckled as he stood. “No, and I see no reason to share them.” His door suddenly opened, and Minato walked in.

“Come on, Naruto. We’re going to see Hiashi now.” He looked at Kakashi and tilted his head backwards a bit. “Hiruzen has some information for you.”

“Okay,” Kakashi said, and Naruto stood up and stepped out from in front of the chair. Kakashi came from around his desk and put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder.

“Let me know if you ever need someone to talk to, kid.”

Naruto smiled slightly. “Thanks, Kakashi.” He followed his dad from the office and out of the building to the car.

“What were you two talking about?” Minato asked as they drove away.

Naruto hummed. “He was just offering me a sympathetic ear.”

Minato reached over and patted Naruto on the shoulder. “You know you can always talk to your old man about this, if you need to, or your mother.”

“I know, Dad. Thanks.”

His dad smiled at him and then redirected his attention to the road. Naruto shifted slightly and leaned against the door, suddenly exhausted as everything that happened so far started to catch up with him. Knowing he’d have to answer more questions from Hinata’s dad, he tried very hard to find a center of calm within him so that he didn’t lose it for a fourth time. That was so uncool, crying over that bastard.

Sasuke’s face appeared in his mind, and Naruto squeezed his eyes shut to stop what he was sure were more tears.

~*~

Kakashi watched Naruto leave with the Chief, noticing the way the boy’s shoulders were rounded and tense, as if he were preparing himself for a blow.

_Like he hasn’t received a big enough blow already._

He watched until the elevator doors closed, and then he moved that way himself, pressing the call button so that he could report to the Commander’s office. As he waited for a car, Kakashi couldn’t help but think of Naruto’s answers and reactions as he’d questioned the boy.

He was hiding something, of that Kakashi was certain. The question was, though, to what degree would discovering what that was help them solve the crime?

The elevator door opened, so he stepped inside and pressed the button for Hiruzen’s floor.

_Well, hiding something or not, I highly doubt a fight between Naruto and Sasuke holds the key to why the Uchiha family was killed._

Kakashi stepped off the elevator when the doors opened again, and he walked down the hallway to Hiruzen’s office.

_Then again, I don’t want to find out I’m wrong. I should probably get Naruto back in here and pry the information out of him._

He stopped at Hiruzen’s open door and knocked, watching as the old man looked up and motioned him inside.

“Close the door, Kakashi.”

Kakashi did so and sat in one of the chairs in front of Hiruzen’s desk. “The Chief said you had something to tell me.”

“Indeed,” Hiruzen said as he leaned back in his chair. “Minato received a call from Hiashi with some very good news.” He paused to smile at Kakashi. “Sasuke Uchiha is alive.”

Kakashi could only stare before releasing a very long breath. He leaned forward and rubbed his hands over his face. “Thank God,” he said. He released another breath and sat up. “Thank God. Thank God. That’s really…”

Hiruzen laughed a little. “Yes, it’s truly a miracle.”

Kakashi smiled and agreed before he blanched. “Oh, my God, Naruto!”

“Kakashi, what’s wrong? What about Naruto?”

Catching himself, Kakashi shook his head. “No, nothing, sir.” He hoped that the Chief told Naruto that Sasuke was fine, for the boy’s sake. “Um, is Sasuke able to identify his parents’ killer?”

Hiruzen shook his head. “Minato says that the boy isn’t conscious. We’ll have to wait until later to question him. Hiashi has requested some uniforms be sent to the hospital to guard his room, so I’d like you to send a couple of men down there.”

Kakashi nodded. “Of course.” He hummed as he briefly considered who he could send. “Was that all, sir?”

Hiruzen was quiet a moment before letting out a small breath. “No. Now that it’s come to this, Minato and I have decided to make you aware of some things that have been withheld from a great many people on the force.”

Kakashi’s eyes widened in surprise. There wasn’t a lot that was kept from him, and he found himself slightly excited about what it could be.

“To start, it’s time to make the notification.”

Kakashi idly thought his eyes probably couldn’t get any wider as he watched Hiruzen reach for his phone and dial a number.

~*~

Torune frowned as the medical examiner’s assistant stuttered out an apology for being unable to allow him admittance. He looked behind her, through the window in the examination room’s door, and took note of the two bodies laid out and covered up to the chest. He recognized Fugaku and his wife, and his lips pressed together in a grim line.

Where was Sasuke?

He refocused on the assistant. “Where is the third body?”

“I don’t know, sir. They only brought two in.”

Torune blinked. “Where is the medical examiner?”

“He’ll be here later. And I can’t let anyone in without him present.”

Not exactly happy with that answer, Torune nodded anyway and spun on his heel. He’d just go back to the administration building and see what else he could find.

As he exited the county offices, his cell phone rang. Pulling it from his pocket, he read his partner’s name on the screen and swiped his finger over it to answer.

“Hello, Fu.”

_“Torune, did you find anything?”_

Torune shook his head slightly. “Only barred doors and several questions. I’m on my way back.”

_“What kind of questions?”_

“I didn’t see Sasuke.”

_“What do you mean?”_

“I only saw the bodies of Uchiha and his wife. Sasuke’s body wasn’t there.”

Fu was silent for a few seconds before he cursed quietly into the phone. Torune heard the man typing hurriedly. 

_“Shit. Hatake just sent Yamashiro and Shiranui to back up Lieutenant Hyuuga about half an hour ago. It looks like their squad car is stationary somewhere close to Konoha General.”_

“You don’t think—”

_“I don’t know, but forget about coming here. Just get to the hospital. I’ll meet you there.”_

“Got it.” Torune hung up and hurried to his car. If Sasuke wasn’t in the morgue, if Sasuke _was_ at the hospital, someone was going to be in a world of trouble.

 

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

Suigetsu cursed aloud as his phone rang for like, the _fucking millionth time_ that morning, but he ignored it yet again as he parked his car in the garage across from City Hall. Juugo looked at him from the corner of his eye, which made Suigetsu curse again under his breath. He picked it up and looked at the screen—17 missed calls.

He clicked his tongue as he turned his phone off and shoved it in his pocket. “It’s Karin again, probably, the stupid bitch.”

Juugo remained silent, but he exited the car when Suigetsu did. The car doors slamming echoed in the garage, though it was hardly empty at this time of day, and they started for the building across the street.

Suigetsu idly wondered how many times Karin would call before she tracked him and Juugo down. He laughed under his breath.

_So_ what _if I killed Sasuke? It was the job!_

Suigetsu reached into his back pocket to remove his cigarettes. Juugo cleared his throat next to him, and Suigetsu scowled as he shoved them back into his pocket.

He remembered last night, how she’d begged him not to kill Sasuke. It still pissed him off, those ridiculous pleas and tears for that _bastard_.

_He deserved to die!_

He was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of the elevator opening in front of them. He looked around, not knowing when they’d crossed the street or entered the building. Juugo shoved him gently into the car and followed him in, pressing the button for the floor they needed.

“Suigetsu, what are you going to do about Karin?”

Suigetsu clicked his tongue in disgust. “Nothing. If she keeps hollering like this, the boss will take her out for me.”

The elevator came to a stop, and they exited as the doors opened. They walked past the receptionist’s desk, who wisely lowered her head and kept typing as they continued on into the boss’ office. The door swung open at his touch, and Suigetsu was surprised to see the muscle in the room. Even more surprising was that the muscle was armed to the teeth. Sai stood in front of the desk with his creepy, fake-ass smile, and Suigetsu glared and bared his teeth in a humorless smile of his own, a silent way of telling the creep to move out of his way.

The boss’ chair was facing away from Suigetsu and Juugo, and it creaked ominously as he and Juugo stopped in front of the desk.

“Hey, boss. We’re here to collect for a completed job,” Suigetsu said after a moment of silence.

“Completed?”

Suigetsu blinked at the question. “Uh, yeah. Three bodies, like you wanted.”

“Hm. Interesting, because I just received word that one of those bodies has yet to arrive at the morgue.” The chair creaked again. “Gentlemen, my phone will ring within the next ten minutes, and your fate will largely depend on what I hear on the other end.”

Suigetsu looked over at Juugo in shock, finding his partner’s brows furrowed as he stared at the back of the ornate leather chair.

“And let’s not forget the young lady. Sai,” the boss barked sharply. “Bring her here.”

“Yes, sir,” Sai said, and he motioned to two of the muscled goons by the door to follow him out.

Suigetsu was so shocked he couldn’t even begin to think of what he should do or say in this situation. They’d killed Sasuke and his parents, he was sure of it! Even if he’d only shot Sasuke once, his aim was excellent. The bastard would have bled out long before EMTs arrived. There was no way—

The cell phone on the desk began to ring, and Suigetsu’s eyes widened in panic as the chair spun around.

~*~

They rode on in silence, and after about ten minutes, they drove up to the entrance of Konoha General. Naruto looked at Minato in question, but his dad was already getting out of the car. Naruto followed quickly, and when they got inside, Ino’s dad was waiting for them.

“Inoichi,” Minato greeted.

“Sir, Lieutenant Hyuuga is waiting for you upstairs. Dr. Senju is also here if you would like to speak with her.”

Minato nodded. “Thank you.” He motioned for Inoichi to lead the way, and they walked toward the elevator as Inoichi called someone on his phone. 

“We’re heading to the ICU. Dr. Senju will meet us there,” Inoichi informed them as he hung up his phone.

“Dad, why are we at the hospital?” Naruto asked.

“Just following up on a case.”

Naruto was going to ask another question, but decided not to. His dad was a busy and focused man, and he knew better than to distract him while he worked. When the elevator doors opened, they all stepped into the corridor and then through the ICU doors and were met by Hinata’s dad and the Old Lady.

“Minato,” Tsunade said, extending her hand to shake. “And the brat. My, how much you’ve grown from the short, dorky kid you used to be,” she said to Naruto, giving him a once over.

“And you’re still an old lady,” he said as he smiled slightly.

She scowled at him. “I never liked you.”

Minato laughed. “You two never change.”

“Sir,” Hiashi said. “If you have questions for the doctor, there’s an empty room down the hall we can use.”

Minato nodded. “Tsunade, if you don’t mind.” Tsunade turned and started down the hall. “Naruto, wait here. When we’re done, Hiashi will need to talk to you.”

“Okay.” He watched them walk down the hall then turned to take in the two officers in front of the room they’d been standing by. “Hey, Genma, Aoba, how have you been?”

“Well, if it isn’t Blondie,” Genma said from his slouched position against the wall.

Naruto scowled slightly. “My dad’s blond, too, you know.”

“Yeah, but you’re the only one who acts like it.” Genma laughed as Naruto flipped him off.

Lowering his arm, Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets. “What are you two doing here?”

“What does it look like?”

“Genma,” Aoba admonished quietly.

Genma made a rude noise and stood up straight. “Our job. Now just take a seat and wait for the Lieutenant like a good boy.”

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Genma and turned to find some place to sit, but there weren’t any chairs to be had. Frowning, Naruto looked at Genma and Aoba again, wanting to be a smartass for a moment and ask just where he was supposed to ‘take a seat’ at, but decided against it when he saw how stern and serious their faces seemed. It wasn’t very often that he saw them like that; he wondered what was going on. And why hadn’t Genma answered his question? What were they doing there?

He looked at the door they stood next to, noticing the name plate on the wall and the ‘Suzuki’ written in dry-erase marker. Who was that? Were Genma and Aoba guarding him? His dad had said that he was following up on a case, so he wondered if a prisoner was inside the room.

His thoughts whirling around the small mystery, Naruto turned toward the reception desk and he smiled at the nurse behind the counter. “Any way a guy could get a chair, sir?”

All he got in answer was a glare that looked slightly sinister behind large-framed glasses, and the nurse went back to whatever he was working on. Naruto narrowed his eyes in return and decided he’d rather stand than ask the bastard again. He took a few steps back and leaned against the wall behind him, bending his right knee to press the bottom of his foot against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

There was nothing he could do now but wait for Hinata’s dad to come back out and try to avoid thinking about why he needed to talk to the man in the first place. But after a few minutes, his thoughts refused to be kept behind the wall he’d desperately tried to build around them.

_[Don’t you trust me?]_

Naruto banged his head against the wall. It had all started with that question. Sasuke had gotten that damn text message, and when he didn’t answer Naruto’s question of who it was from, Naruto had kind of snapped.

Their tempers had always fed off of each other, so when he had snapped and asked that question, Sasuke had snapped and verbally shredded Naruto in every way he could probably think of. Just thinking of what Sasuke had said made him want to cry, made his heart ache in his chest because he had _loved_ that goddamned bastard, but Naruto also knew that Sasuke had always been socially retarded, ever since his brother had chosen their uncle over their dad, and couldn’t properly express himself or his feelings.

Naruto banged his head again. When would he stop thinking about it? It was driving him crazy, building the guilt he felt over Sasuke’s death into a sharp point that dug itself deeper and deeper into his mind.

Trying once again to not think about it, Naruto lifted his head and focused on the first thing he could. He stared at the guards and then focused on the name plate. Naruto recalled hearing the name before, but he was distracted by the nurse suddenly standing. 

“Where are you going?” Genma asked the nurse as the man stepped from behind the desk and walked toward the doors.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going downstairs for some coffee.”

“Eh? Bring me something back!” Genma shouted at the man’s back. Naruto had a feeling Genma’s ‘request’ fell on deaf ears. “Tch, how long do we have to stand here with that creepy, _rude_ guy, eh?”

“At least until our shift ends,” Aoba said.

Genma grumbled a bit more, but he quieted down soon enough, and there was nothing to keep Naruto’s mind occupied from the painful thoughts that threatened to drag him down. Why couldn’t he have just been satisfied with what he and Sasuke had? But he already knew the answer. Only love-struck heroines in comic books or romance novels thought that _feelings_ had any place in what was just sex. Oh, and him. His _feelings_ for Sasuke were why he thought he could butt into Sasuke’s business like that, and his _feelings_ were probably why he should have never started his… affair with Sasuke anyway, or whatever the hell the thing between them was called. Because _of course_ Naruto would get too attached and _at some point_ come to think he meant something to Sasuke.

He hadn’t quite made it to that certain point of delusion, but he’d been close. And then… Sasuke was gone.

Naruto could feel the tears building up again. He lifted his right hand to his face and ran it quickly across his eyes, trying to stop it before it started, the next breakdown. He sniffed and re-crossed his arms, looking around to see if anyone was paying him any attention. 

They weren’t, but the nurse had returned while he’d been preoccupied with his thoughts, and he sat behind the desk with a cup of coffee. At the smell of the coffee, Naruto was reminded that he hadn’t had anything to eat all day, just a cup of coffee at seven and a few sips of the one he’d bought at eight before… well, before. It felt awkward to even be thinking of food when… yeah, but his body knew food was a good idea even if his brain and heart told him he would never feel like eating again.

He pushed himself off of the wall and approached the nurse. “Excuse me, is there a vending machine or something on this floor?”

The nurse looked up from his computer, the light flashing off his lenses. “No.” Naruto frowned at the terse answer, but he didn’t feel like making a big deal out of it right now. He nodded, intending to just… wander around until he found something, he guessed, but before he could move away, the nurse continued. “However, there is a break room just back here.” He pointed to a corridor just behind him and branching off to the left. “It may have something you could snack on.”

Naruto looked down that way. “Oh,” he said. He looked back at the nurse. “Thanks.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked around the desk and down the short corridor. A few feet down, a door opened on the left into a small room with a mini-fridge, a sink, a coffee-maker on the counter, and a small, two-chaired table.

Shrugging, Naruto slipped into the small room and headed for the mini-fridge. He opened it and found bottles of water and cans of soda, but nothing to eat. Sighing quietly, he closed the door and turned to face the door. The nurse was standing there.

“Snacks will be in the cabinets, if we have any,” he said, nodding his head toward the cabinets over the counter.

“Ah,” Naruto said, and turned to open one of the cabinets. It was filled with coffee, sugar packets, and powdered creamer. He frowned at the collection. “Why’d you go downstairs if you had coffee in here?” he asked as he closed the cabinet and opened the one next to it. He spotted some snack bars and packages of trail mix. He reached in for one of the snack bars.

“I had to make a phone call.” Naruto turned to see the nurse shrug and lean against the door frame. “I’m Kabuto, by the way.”

“Oh.” Naruto turned around fully after closing the cabinet door. “I’m Naruto.” He lifted the snack bar in his hand. “Thanks for this.” Kabuto nodded. There was an awkward silence between them that Naruto filled with the crinkling of the wrapping.

“I saw that you came in with the Chief of Police. By the color of your hair, I take it you’re related?”

Naruto chewed the mouthful of snack bar slowly. He wasn’t really sure what he should say to that. It was rather obvious that they were related, so there was no real point denying it, but so many years of trying to keep himself disassociated from the dangerous aspects of his dad’s job kept him wary and cautious even when the most innocent of questions about their relationship came up.

Naruto swallowed his mouthful and looked down at the remainder of the bar in his hand. “Well,” he started to say, but a commotion from back down the short corridor stopped him. Kabuto pushed off of the door frame and looked down the hall. Naruto moved around the small table back to the door and popped his head out as well. Genma and Aoba were talking to someone. Naruto ducked out into the hallway and walked back toward the nurse’s station.

“We didn’t hear anything about replacements. We haven’t even been here that long!” Genma said. Naruto stopped before he turned back around the corner, not wanting to get between Genma and whoever he seemed angry at.

“Maybe you should step out and call the Captain if you don’t believe us.”

Naruto didn’t recognize the voice, but he frowned at how frosty it had been toward Genma. He slowly moved his body close to the wall and peeked around the corner. He saw two men facing Genma and Aoba, their backs to Naruto. One had short black hair, and the other had longish red hair up in a ponytail. 

“We will not move from this spot until ordered to do so,” Aoba said calmly. He had a restraining hand on Genma’s shoulder.

The guy with red hair sighed loudly. “I figured we’d have to do this the hard way.” Naruto watched as the man straightened and quickly pulled his gun from his holster, pointing it at Aoba and Genma, his eyes widening and his breath trying to come out in quick, loud pants. He placed a hand to his mouth. “Keep quiet and move from the door or…” He moved the gun in his hand slightly.

“So… the rumors must be true about you two,” Genma said in quiet anger, his fists clenched in front of him.

“We haven’t time for this,” the other man said. He also reached for his gun. Naruto narrowed his eyes, only giving a moment’s thought to what he was about to do, and made a move to jump out from the corridor, but a hand on his shoulder pulled him back. He swung his head around and glared at Kabuto.

“What the hell was that for?” he hissed quietly.

“I’m only trying to keep the damage to a minimum,” Kabuto said quietly. Naruto growled and shrugged his hand off. He turned back around and ducked down, getting as low as possible as he ran from out of the corridor and around the nurse’s station to tackle the man closest to him.

He reached out and dove at the man, grabbing him around the waist and letting his momentum topple them both over and into the second man. He heard Genma and Aoba screaming and someone’s firearm discharging. But he didn’t hear anyone screaming in pain, so Naruto assumed it discharged harmlessly into the wall or floor. He heard a door slam open down the hall where his dad went with the Old Lady.

As they hit the floor, Naruto let go of the man’s waist and rolled away, listening intently as everything seemed to happen at once and create a symphony of chaotic noise. An alarm sounded as his dad began barking orders, not in the ICU itself, but close. He felt more than saw the two men leap from the floor and move away, no doubt trying to make a run for it. He lifted his head from the floor and watched Genma and Aoba, followed by Ino’s dad, run after them. Then Minato was next to him, lifting him from the floor.

“Naruto! Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine, I’m fine!” he yelled, desperate to assure his dad that he hadn’t been hurt so that he could go after those men.

“Stay put!” his dad yelled as he whirled around to bark more orders. “Tsunade, lock down the ICU and the hospital! No one gets in or out! Hiashi, call Kakashi and find out who sent those two here! I’m following the chase.”

Then Minato and Tsunade were out of the double doors, leaving Naruto alone with Kabuto and Hinata’s dad, who stepped down the hall back toward the room they’d been in to make the call to Kakashi. Naruto’s heart was racing, and the only thing he could hear was the muffled, high-pitched drone of the alarm. Well, that and his blood rushing through his body, drowning out any other sounds. He slowly made his way to the double doors, his hand pressing against the door, but not pushing, not wanting to disobey his dad after such a close call. After several deep breaths, his heart calmed enough to allow other sounds to filter through, and he caught the sound of Kabuto shuffling around behind him.

It was silent for a moment, and then Kabuto spoke loudly, his voice colored by irritation. “Put Orochimaru on the phone!” It was silent again, and then Kabuto said, “Change of plans. The hospital has been locked down. It’s going to take me a little time to figure out a way around it. You’ll have to collect Sasuke later.”

Naruto’s breath froze in his lungs. Anything else Kabuto might have said was washed away by the renewed pounding of his heart.

_Did… he just say… “Sasuke”?_

Naruto turned around slowly, his arms slipping down to hang lifelessly at his sides. He stared at Kabuto, watching as the man ended his phone call and ran a hand through his hair. He had a disgruntled expression on his face, but it smoothed out as he slipped his phone into his back pocket and moved to stand behind the nurse’s station.

Kabuto bent over his chair and stared at the screen of his computer, his eyes squinting slightly as he read whatever was on the screen. Then he stood and walked around the nurse’s station, moving toward and then past Naruto and out of the ICU.

Naruto could only stand there, his heart still pounding in his ears as he stared blindly at where Kabuto had been standing.

_He said “Sasuke.”_

Naruto slowly turned his head to look at the ICU room Aoba and Genma had been guarding. 

_It’s not possible…_

He turned toward the room and took a hesitant step forward, followed by another, and another, until he was standing in front of the room’s door, his fingers trembling slightly as he grasped the handle to slide it open. It opened with a gentle _whoosh_ , and Naruto carefully stepped inside. His eyes immediately fell to the hospital bed.

Sasuke lay in the bed, his leg in a cast and his skin a little pale, but… he was alive. Naruto felt his knees buckle, and he put his hand out to steady himself against the wall. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart and quiet the blood rushing in his ears. His eyes were riveted to Sasuke, taking in the bandages and cast and the bruising under his eyes.

When he felt he could move without support, he made his way to the bed and stood staring down at Sasuke’s face for a moment before lifting a hand and reaching toward the pale skin. Naruto’s fingers shook as they lightly grazed Sasuke’s cheek, feeling the warmth through his skin, and he collapsed next to the bed. With his left hand clinging to the bed sheets and his right hand covering his mouth, Naruto cried his relief, tears streaming down his face.

_Alive! Sasuke’s alive!_

He tightened his grip on the bed sheets, trying hard to rein in his emotions. But he was just so goddamned _relieved_ that Sasuke was alive, that the man he _loved_ wasn’t lying in a black bag in the city morgue.

Eventually that thought sunk through to him more than the simple fact that Sasuke was alive—that Sasuke wasn’t _dead_ , despite everything he’d seen and been _told_.

He stood up and wiped his face of tears. When he could see clearly, he looked at Sasuke. His visible arm and his head were wrapped in bandages, and he had a few scrapes on his face, along with the giant bandage on his cheek, but he looked fine. Why had his dad told him Sasuke was dead? His anger began to build, almost to the point that he wanted to storm back down the hallway, seek out his dad, and confront him about this deception.

He took some steady breaths to calm down. His dad was busy chasing those guys that had tried to hurt Aoba and Genma; he couldn’t just do as he pleased right now because the adults had lied to him. But as he calmed down, he began looking back on everything he’d been told and started taking it apart piece by piece, like his dad had taught him. As he went through everything his dad had said over the past few hours, he slowly realized that Minato had never actually said that Sasuke was dead. He always talked about the murdered Uchihas, which couldn’t be disputed because Fugaku and Mikoto were Uchihas, or about what a huge blow it was to have lost Fugaku.

Naruto backed away from the bed and sat down in a nearby chair, his mind working to step back from his emotional connection to the case and try to see the big picture.

Sasuke was lying in the hospital bed, though the news was rolling continuous footage of three black bags being wheeled out of the house, so obviously the cops wanted people to think Sasuke was dead. Specifically… the killers? Which would afford Sasuke extra protection if they thought he was already dead.

Naruto let out a breath and let his head fall into his hands as he hunched forward, shaking it back and forth. If this was all to protect Sasuke, Naruto couldn’t really be mad about it, though his dad would hear an earful when it was all over. And not just from Naruto, if his mother didn’t already know.

Naruto scrubbed his hands over his face and looked up. His breath stalled as he gazed at Sasuke, the other’s dark eyes trained on him in the chair. Almost an entire minute passed with them looking at each other, and then Sasuke licked his lips.

“Naruto?” he whispered hoarsely, his voice soft and gravelly from sleep and probably no small bit of morphine.

Sasuke’s voice shook Naruto out of his shock, and he quickly got up and stood next to the bed, reaching for Sasuke’s hand atop the sheets with his left hand and placing his right hand on Sasuke’s forehead to push back his hair.

“Hey,” he said softly, petting Sasuke’s hair as they looked at each other. “How do you feel?”

Sasuke was quiet a moment, his eyes moving slightly back and forth, as if searching Naruto’s face for something. His fingers curled around Naruto’s. “You’ve been crying.”

Naruto laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, I have.”

Sasuke tried to move his other arm from under the sheets, but the movement must have pulled at something, because he hissed and blinked back tears. “What…?”

“You were shot,” Naruto whispered.

Sasuke swallowed and slowly nodded. “My parents?”

Naruto pressed his lips together, and he shook his head. Sasuke lost his battle with tears, and they started to roll down his pale cheeks, soaking into the bandage on the one, his fingers tightening around Naruto’s. Naruto didn’t say anything, just continued to pet Sasuke’s hair.

“What’s going on?” Sasuke eventually asked, his voice a harsh whisper, but his emotions somewhat under control.

Not sure that he actually had an answer to give, Naruto shook his head and said, “Don’t know. Dad’s on it.”

Sasuke nodded. He closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. Then he looked at Naruto and asked, “Why are you here?”

Naruto swallowed nervously. “Why wouldn’t I be here?” Memories of their fight fought for dominance in his head, and he was afraid Sasuke would reject him again.

Though his face was impassive, Sasuke’s eyes were sad. “You were mad. You said… you never wanted to see me again.”

Naruto stopped a sob from slipping out as he said, “I _was_ mad, you bastard. But you’re my f-friend, and you’ve been shot!” Sasuke didn’t say anything, and after a moment, Naruto lifted his hand from Sasuke’s hair to rub at his eyes. He didn’t let go of Sasuke’s hand, and he distantly noted that Sasuke didn’t let go of his either.

Calming down a little, he looked Sasuke in the eye. “Listen, Sasuke, Shika’s dad thinks your family was targeted. The police have told the media that you died with your parents to try to give you some extra protection, I think.”

“What?” Sasuke’s eyes widened.

Naruto nodded. “I don’t know all the details. No one told me you were alive. I just happened to come in here. I think I should leave before someone finds out that I know you’re here.” Sasuke’s fingers tightened around his again, and Naruto smiled slightly as he looked at their joined hands. “Okay. I’ll try to come back tomorrow.”

“Naruto,” Sasuke called, pulling on Naruto’s hand when the other tried to move away. “I need to get out of here.”

“What?”

“I need to get out, Naruto. You have to get me out of here.”

Naruto looked at the door then back at Sasuke. “I don’t think the police or the Old Lady will let you go in your condition, Sasuke.”

“I don’t want to be here, Naruto. If I have to do it alone, I will get out of here.”

Naruto glared slightly at the jerk. When would he understand that he wasn’t _alone_ when he had Naruto? He sighed. “How can I help with that?”

“I need my phone.”

Naruto stared, remembering the last place he saw Sasuke’s phone. “What do you need it for?”

Sasuke glared at him, and Naruto was almost relieved to see it. “To make a phone call.”

“Uh huh, I got that. To whom?”

Sasuke clinched his jaw and looked away. Naruto narrowed his eyes, suddenly suspicious as he recalled how their fight had started. As he opened his mouth to bitch out Sasuke on being a tight-lipped bastard _again_ , he registered the pain lines around Sasuke’s mouth and eyes and figured that Sasuke needed a morphine adjustment. He closed his mouth with a click, finally realizing that Sasuke hadn’t let go of his hand even if he wasn’t willing to speak. That almost made up for it to Naruto.

“All right, bastard, I’ll see about getting your damn phone. But you need to rest and let Tsunade know you’re awake. I’m going to leave. Give me a minute to get away, and then use the call button.” He pointed to the device by Sasuke’s side. Then he thought about the empty state of the ICU and added, “Um, there might be a slight delay in someone coming. Maybe wait a little bit.” He placed his hand on Sasuke’s head again, and before he could talk himself out of it, he leaned forward and kissed Sasuke quickly on the lips. 

“I’ll see you later,” he breathed against Sasuke’s lips, continuing the light contact briefly, wanting so much to claim Sasuke’s lips in a desperate kiss to express how fucking _happy_ he was that Sasuke was here. But then he was across the room and sliding the door open, sliding it closed, and walking away as fast as he could. Even though his dad had told him to stay put, he just couldn’t and pretend he hadn’t found Sasuke. Popping his head out of the doors, he found that no one had shown up yet to guard the ICU. He hesitated, not wanting to leave Sasuke unguarded, but then he remembered that Hinata’s dad was just down the hall, so he headed for the elevators. When the doors slid open and he could sag against its back wall, he let himself cry again, an overwhelmingly grateful feeling filling him from head to toe and making his legs weak underneath him.

_Sasuke is fucking alive!_

When the elevator came to a stop, Naruto quickly wiped his face and stepped off, having no real destination in mind, but he needed to find someplace out of the way and start thinking about how the hell he was going to get Sasuke’s phone from Kakashi’s office.

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last hurrah for 2017. Btw, this is where I started to get in my head about whether or not the story jived, so if you notice some plot holes as we go forward, please let me know! Happy New Year!


	6. Chapter 5

Shikamaru groaned as his phone’s vibrating rattle forced him into consciousness. He opened one eye, squinting at the clock on the table next to the bed. It was almost one in the afternoon, so he supposed he could bring himself to answer the phone. He tried to reach for it, but the weight sprawled over his body wouldn’t budge enough for him to move. He grunted as he pushed at his girlfriend’s shoulder, forcing the woman to roll over and free him from her grasp.

She eventually complied, but by then his phone had stopped ringing. Cursing under his breath, he sat up and reached for it, unlocking the screen to see who had called. Just as it registered that Naruto had called him, his phone flashed a new text message, Naruto’s name and the words _Why can’t you ever answer the phone?_ flashing across the screen.

Sighing, he opened his messaging app. _What do you want?_

_Nice greeting, asshat. Where are you?_

Shikamaru curled his lip in annoyance. _Temari’s. Why?_

_I need you!_

_I’m taken._ Shikamaru reached for his cigarettes.

_You wish I wanted you. No, I need your help. Are you coming back tonight?_

Shikamaru grunted as he stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit it. He inhaled and exhaled before replying. _Was thinking about it. What do you want?_

_No! You have to be here! Promise me to be here!_

_You’re such a pain._

_I know._

The absence of some weird smiling emoji alerted Shikamaru that something wasn’t right. _What’s going on?_

_I’ll tell you later. Just please meet me tonight._

Shikamaru sighed. _Fine. I’ll be at your apartment in a few hours._

_My apartment is off limits for now. We’re meeting at Kiba’s since his mom will be out for a while._

Shikamaru was sort of curious at that. _What happened to your apartment?_

_Not important. Okay, maybe a little important, but not right now. I’ll see you tonight?_

_Yes._ Shikamaru sighed, watching the end of his cigarette glow as it dangled from his fingers as he removed it from between his lips.

_Thanks a million, Shika!_

Shikamaru returned his phone to the home screen and set it on the nightstand, but not before seeing that he had several missed calls from Kiba. What the hell did he want? He sighed again. A warm hand settled on his back.

“Who was that?” Temari asked sleepily, rolling so that her body curled around his.

“Naruto.” He brought his cigarette up to take a deep drag.

Temari snorted. “What does he want?”

“Don’t really know. Wants me to meet him and Kiba later.”

“So you’re leaving?”

He nodded. “In a bit.”

“I get it. The mistress calls, and off you go, eh?” Temari joked as she sat up beside him.

Shikamaru snorted as he finished his smoke and crushed it out in the ashtray by his phone. “Please, don’t even joke about that. Besides,” he paused, a flash of Sasuke’s glaring face passing through his mind. “I have a feeling Naruto’s off the market.”

Temari laughed in surprise as she moved off the bed to her dresser. “What? This is news to me! Someone’s actually snagged the hot little imp?”

Shikamaru grunted at the word ‘hot,’ but he really couldn’t dispute that Naruto was certainly admired by a lot of the girls on campus. “I don’t know. I just said I had a feeling.” Because he certainly hadn’t _seen_ anything to confirm his suspicions, other than a relaxing of the hostile atmosphere between them that used to define their relationship, but he had attributed that to a growing maturity in each.

He watched as Temari slipped on a pair of jeans and a shirt. “Oh, come on! You’re hardly ever wrong about anything. Who’s he banging?” She walked over and put her arms around his neck, leaning over and staring at him in the eyes.

He frowned. “Look, it’s not my business. Plus, I don’t trust you not to turn around and tell Gaara, because we all know how obsessed he is with Naruto, and I’d rather not get involved with all that.”

Temari clicked her tongue and walked back over to the dresser to pick up a brush and fix her hair. “Please, I would _not_ tell Gaara. And he’s _not_ obsessed with Naruto.”

Shikamaru grunted loudly at that, his disbelief clear. Temari threw a hair band at his head, which he used to pull his own hair up. “Yeah, tell me that after he drives down to Konoha and confronts Naruto about it.”

Temari hummed. “Gaara is a special boy. He takes his friendships very seriously, and Naruto—also a special boy—has the distinct honor of being his first friend.”

“Whatever.” Shikamaru stood and moved to the adjoining bathroom to brush his teeth. Temari followed and leaned against the door frame.

“Well, I guess I won’t use my feminine wiles to force the information out of you.” She smirked as he glared at her over his toothbrush. “Are you heading back right now?”

He spit the toothpaste out of his mouth and turned on the water to rinse. When done, he straightened and grabbed the hand towel hanging next to the sink to wipe his mouth. “Let’s get some lunch. I’ll head back after that.”

Temari nodded and moved to brush her own teeth while he went back into the bedroom to change. He thought back on his brief conversation with Naruto. It was kind of hard to tell via text – well, and the fact that Naruto was rather spastic on good day – but he somehow felt that there had been a sense of desperation in Naruto’s request, and Shikamaru couldn’t help the growing curiosity. The last time Naruto had been desperate for his help like this had been when they were children and Naruto’s dad had been shot. Minato almost hadn’t made it, and Naruto had been almost inconsolable.

But something happening to Naruto’s dad would have been something Naruto would have mentioned outright, so Shikamaru felt that maybe this was something that could only be discussed face to face. A delicate subject, and Shikamaru grit his teeth as another flash of Sasuke came to mind.

_Damn suppositions._

As he pulled his shirt over his head, his phone rang again. He stared at it, a sudden sense of unease filling him. He picked it up to see Kiba’s name and picture on the screen.

“Is it the mistress again?” Temari asked from the bathroom.

“No,” he said as he answered the call. “Hello?”

_“Hey, Shika. Naruto says you’re meeting us tonight.”_

“Yeah, I just got done texting him a few minutes ago.”

_“What did he tell you?”_

Shikamaru frowned. “Nothing. Just that he needed to see me.” Kiba sighed softly on the other end.

_“I guess you’re in Suna, right? So you probably haven’t heard, but I’m not going to let you come in here blind.”_

“What’s going on, Kiba?” Temari appeared at his side, probably alerted by the edge of irritation in his voice. When Kiba didn’t say anything, Shikamaru repeated the question with a little heat to the words, expecting to be answered.

_“Sasuke and his parents were killed last night.”_

Shikamaru froze at the words, his heart speeding up as the meaning sunk in. He felt Temari grab his hand, and he squeezed it unconsciously. “Are you serious?” he asked eventually, his voice quiet in disbelief.

_“Yes. Hinata’s dad is in charge of the investigation, and Naruto’s dad has told us a little about it.”_

Shikamaru swallowed and slowly sat on the bed. “What happened?”

_“Not sure. A robbery, maybe.”_

Shikamaru put his head down and felt Temari’s hand rubbing his back. “So Naruto needs some emotional support, huh?” He listened as Kiba laughed humorlessly.

_“You could say that. Listen… you were right about Naruto and Sasuke. He told me so.”_

Shikamaru felt like he’d been punched in the stomach at Kiba’s words.

_“When he asked why I wasn’t surprised, I told him it’s because you thought it might be that way.”_

“You what?”

_“Chill. Naruto wasn’t mad. And we never treated him any differently knowing it might be true, so I think he just needs to, I don’t know, grieve with people who know.”_

“Kiba…”

_“Look, like, I said, I didn’t want you to come into this blind. I think Naruto needs our support, so I thought you should know ahead of time.”_

Shikamaru nodded. “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Kiba said goodbye, and Shikamaru ended the call, letting his hand drop between his knees, his knuckles white as he gripped his phone.

“What’s wrong?” Temari asked quietly, her one hand still holding his while the other continued to rub his back.

He brought their joined hands to his forehead as he bent his head down and turned in toward her. “The Uchiha family was killed last night.” She gasped, and her hand stilled on his back. “I think Naruto needs me.”

Temari stood up quickly and pulled him to his feet. “Then go,” she said. She looked him square in the eye, willing Shikamaru to go to Naruto.

He nodded and leaned in for a quick kiss goodbye before snatching up his wallet and keys and racing out of her apartment. He reached his car and fumbled his keys as he tried to unlock his door, cursing as they fell to the ground. He picked them up quickly and tried again, all the while trying to rein in his racing mind and his worry for Naruto.

_[You were right about Naruto and Sasuke.]_

Shikamaru finally got his door open, sliding in and slamming it closed as Kiba’s words repeated over and over in his head. He felt like he was going to hurl. Naruto was also the kind of person to take his friendships very seriously, and knowing that he lost _more_ than a friend in Sasuke had Shikamaru’s gut twisting in worry. This was the kind of thing that would kill Naruto’s smile, and a Naruto who didn’t smile would cast a lingering pall on everyone. A Naruto who didn’t smile wasn’t Naruto.

The drive to Konoha was long and nerve-wracking, Shikamaru’s grip on the steering wheel tight as everything swirled around in his head. Naruto’s words, Kiba’s words, and every time he had ever seen Naruto and Sasuke together, from their first meeting in elementary school to last week in class. While everyone had grown up together and started going their own separate ways, those two had stayed close— _had gotten closer_ —over the years, more so than anyone else.

But Sasuke had issues, which was why Shikamaru had never really been sure about those two. It went beyond commitment issues; it seemed to him an inability to trust. After the big brother that they _all_ had looked up to had simply walked out on him, seemingly without a second thought, Sasuke changed. He became less outgoing, more closed off, and colder, and the only one who had never despaired over Sasuke’s attitude—at least on the outside—had been Naruto.

For one sick second, Shikamaru was mildly curious how Sasuke would have reacted to Naruto’s death before shaking the thought from his head. There was no longer a need to analyze the relationship between them. All that mattered was getting to Naruto.

It was almost six by the time he pulled into Kiba’s driveway, and, for whatever reason, Shikamaru’s mind had convinced him that he would be walking in on a wailing Naruto trying his best to join Sasuke in death as Kiba panicked and cried like a girl. Having thus prepared for such a scene, it was rather shocking to walk into Kiba’s house to find Naruto happily humming to himself as he made a glass of chocolate milk while Kiba shot him confused and worried glances from the kitchen table. They both looked up at his entrance, looks of relief on each face, though Kiba’s was more pronounced and troubling.

“Shika! Thanks for coming!” Naruto abandoned his chocolate milk and walked over to Shikamaru, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. He stepped back and smiled, leaving Shikamaru completely at a loss.

_This is not the reaction of someone who just lost someone close._

“Okay, now that you’re here, we can start.” He pushed Shikamaru over toward the table and returned to his chocolate milk. Shikamaru watched him stir it for a second before looking at Kiba, one eyebrow raised in question. Kiba shrugged, but his eyes communicated how worried he was by Naruto’s behavior.

Naruto joined them at the table with his drink, his smile slipping somewhat as he contemplated the wood. Then his fingers tightened around the glass, and he looked up, making eye contact with both of them before speaking.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, Shika, but the police and news are reporting that… Sasuke and his parents were shot to death early this morning.” Shikamaru nodded and watched in surprise as Naruto leaned back and turned his eyes away, his free hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck. “Well, that’s only partially true.”

“What?!” Kiba exploded before Shikamaru had the chance to respond. Naruto winced at the yell and brought his hand down to the table, his fingers softly passing back and forth over the wood. His eyes fell to watch his fingers.

“My dad took me with him to the hospital this morning because Hinata’s dad had some questions for me. I ended up finding out something I probably wasn’t supposed to.”

Shikamaru spared a glance at Kiba, who was actually holding his breath in anticipation of what Naruto was going to say. He focused back on Naruto when the other cleared his throat.

“Sasuke’s not dead,” he stated quietly, his fingers stilling against the table. Shikamaru was stunned by the news, and kind of annoyed, too, that he had driven the whole way home thinking about worse and worse scenarios of Naruto’s deteriorating mental health, when it was apparently time not well spent.

“What?!” Kiba exploded again, standing from the chair and slamming his hands down on the table. Some of Naruto’s chocolate milk sloshed over the side of his glass, and Naruto glared slightly at the liquid on his hand before moving it under the table to wipe it on his pants.

Naruto looked up at Kiba and nodded. “I walked into an ICU room, and there he was. He woke up, we talked, he asked me a favor, and now I need your help.”

Kiba fell back into his chair, one hand rising to cover his eyes. “Oh, man. Thank fuck the bastard’s alive. I didn’t know how I was going to handle you with him gone.”

“Heh, I guess that might have been a little hard to manage,” Naruto laughed lightly. He stared at them a moment, and then his eyes started to tear up. He dropped his head until his forehead touched the table. “Fuck, I’m… so glad… he’s…” Shikamaru heard a choked off sob, so he reached for Naruto’s hand. He squeezed it to let Naruto know that he was there for him, and smiled slightly when his hand was squeezed back in thanks. He waited a few seconds and then cleared his throat.

“So Sasuke’s alive, and you need my help with something,” he said, trying to move on from an awkward emotional moment. Just because he knew about them didn’t mean Naruto wanted to talk about it.

Naruto lifted his head and smiled slightly at him, squeezing his hand again before sitting up straight. “Yes.”

“Well, I’ll help any way I can, but I need to know the whole story. Start from the beginning.”

Naruto scrunched up his face and leaned back in his chair, taking his hand with him and crossing his arms over his chest. “I woke up this morning, went to class. All the girls were crying, and Hinata told me Sasuke was d-dead.” Naruto paused to clear his throat. “Kiba took me to my apartment, where we were greeted by your dad, and Ino’s and Hinata’s.”

“Why were they at your apartment?”

Naruto’s eyes shifted to the side. “Sasuke had been by after being shot and left a lot of blood in front of my door. They wanted to question me about it.”

“You didn’t know about the blood?”

“He didn’t answer the door. He told Sasuke to go away and never noticed the blood when he left for class,” Kiba jumped in, perhaps trying to save Naruto from answering, since it was clear to Shikamaru that even though Sasuke was alive, this whole business still hurt Naruto a lot.

“Why didn’t you answer the door?”

Naruto’s lips thinned as he pressed them together. “They had a fight,” Kiba said.

“Okay,” Shikamaru replied, obviously missing something important, but he’d find out later. “Continue.”

“My dad showed up, I went home with Kiba, Dad showed up again and talked to us and Mom, and then he took me to the hospital where I found Sasuke.”

Shikamaru watched as Naruto picked up his glass and drank some of the chocolate milk, frowning as he tried to piece together the whole story from the small parts Naruto had given. When he felt he had a handle on it, he asked, “And what favor did Sasuke ask you for?”

“Oh, um, right,” Naruto murmured as he put down the glass. “He wants me to bring him his phone.”

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “And you need my help because?”

Naruto laughed nervously. “Well, it’s kinda been collected as evidence in the investigation. And it’s in Kakashi’s desk.”

Shikamaru groaned and lowered his head down onto the table. Kiba began to vehemently decline his help as Naruto began to plead his case. Shikamaru banged his head on the table a couple of times before he looked at Naruto again.

“Why does Sasuke need his phone?”

Naruto paused in reaching across the table to look innocently at him. “Um, to make a phone call?”

“To whom?”

It was only briefly, but Shikamaru swore he saw something dark and unpleasant in Naruto’s eyes at the question. But then the boy was smiling and sitting back in his chair.

“No clue. But I told him I’d work on it.”

“Fine. Go back in a couple of days and tell him you couldn’t get it,” Kiba said as he glared across the table at Naruto.

“I can’t _lie_ , Kiba!” Naruto said as he leaned forward. “Besides, Sasuke’s life is obviously in danger for the cops to keep him under wraps like this, so maybe this phone call can help keep him safe!”

“Do you honestly believe that, Naruto?” Kiba asked quietly. Shikamaru felt, by Naruto’s reaction to the question, that they had sailed into some murky waters that the two had been in before.

Naruto lifted his hands to run his fingers through his hair, tugging at the strands as the fingers came to the ends. “I don’t know,” Naruto said into his chest. “He wouldn’t tell me who he wanted to call.”

“Maybe it’s the person who texted him last night,” Kiba commented, his eyes hard as he stared at the top of Naruto’s head. Shikamaru watched in silence as Naruto’s fingers clenched in his hair.

“What are you talking about?” Shikamaru finally asked.

Kiba turned his hard stare on him. “The fight they had started when Sasuke got a text last night and refused to tell Naruto who it was from. If you ask me, it’s the same person that Sasuke wants to call right now for help. If he wants help from the person he’s cheating with rather than the person he’s dating, I say let him find his own damn way to contact them.”

Naruto’s hands slammed down on the table, knocking over his glass and spilling the contents. “We aren’t dating!” Naruto yelled loudly, causing Akamaru to stick his head into the kitchen before scurrying away. No one said anything for a moment, and then Naruto slowly got up to take his glass to the sink. He grabbed the roll of paper towels and brought them to the table, silently wiping up the chocolate milk from the table and where it had dripped on the floor. He threw the wet towels away and replaced the roll before turning and leaning back against the sink, his arms crossed over his chest.

Naruto took a deep breath and released it. “We aren’t dating. Sasuke’s a big boy and can do whatever he wants. He wants his phone, and I know where it is. So I want to help Sasuke at least that much.”

Shikamaru glanced at Kiba to see him glaring into his lap. He looked back at Naruto. “And you don’t think asking Kakashi for the phone will work?”

Naruto shrugged and shook his head. “I’m not supposed to know Sasuke’s alive, so I don’t think I can pull off a convincing story to get Kakashi to hand it over.”

“Why don’t you just tell him that you know Sasuke’s alive?” Kiba asked. “I’m sure them not telling you did more harm than you finding out. Besides, once you do, he can give Sasuke the damn phone himself.”

“Kiba, the police are obviously keeping Sasuke’s survival a secret,” Shikamaru said slowly as he thought over everything he knew about the situation. “In that case, the last thing they would want to do is give Sasuke the ability to both A, contact the outside world and reveal he’s alive, and B, leave the hospital.”

“So what am I supposed to do? How do I get the phone to Sasuke?” Naruto asked.

“The only way to get it is to sneak into Kakashi’s office and take it.”

It seemed as if neither Kiba nor Naruto was breathing at Shikamaru’s simple declaration, but then Kiba was standing from his chair yelling, “Hell the fuck no,” while Naruto was running to the table to wrap his arms around Shikamaru’s neck.

“Thank you so much, Shika! I really owe you for this! Sasuke owes you for this!” While Kiba still grumbled and cursed next to them, Naruto leaned back from Shikamaru and asked, “How are we going to pull it off?”

Kiba finally shut up at the question, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he closed them in thought. After a brief moment, he curled his lip slightly in disgust. “What a pain.”

~*~

“Man, I am so glad to be back home!” Kisame said as he climbed into the waiting car after Shu and shut the door. “All I want to do is get back to the mansion and sleep for a couple of days after that fucking long flight.”

Shu said nothing, but he silently agreed. He didn’t like it when Madara’s business dealings took him out of the country, cut off from really knowing what was going on with the things in which he had a vested interest. He reached up and pushed back a wayward strand of hair that had slithered out from behind his ear then pulled the dark tail of hair from behind him and laid it over his shoulder before crossing his arms and leaning back into the seat. They fell into silence as the ride continued, and after close to an hour, Shu sighed with relief, barely audible, as the car pulled up to the mansion’s entrance gate. The driver rolled down his window and leaned out to key in the gate code, and Kisame chuckled next to him when Shu’s fingers tightened on his arms.

“Glad to be home, too?” Kisame asked, still laughing.

Shu grunted and relaxed his fingers as the car began to move forward through the gate. He glanced at the numerous lighted windows as they neared the three-story mansion and pulled his phone from his pocket to power it back on. He’d turned it off for the trip, so he could only guess at how many missed calls and angry texts were awaiting him. He put it back in his pocket for the moment.

“Ah, yes, you haven’t been able to text your little girlfriend for a while. You must be terribly deprived.”

Shu didn’t even spare Kisame a glare, but he was sure his cold silence spoke volumes when Kisame chuckled nervously and shifted just the slightest bit away on the bench seat. The car slowed to a stop at the mansion’s entrance, and Kisame opened the door to his right and stepped out, holding it open for Shu who slid across the seat and stepped gracefully from the vehicle and then proceeded up the stairs to the front door. Kisame fell in step behind him, and as they neared the doors, one opened to allow them in, a petite maid bowing as they passed.

As Shu made for the stairs, a shadow broke off from the corridor to the left and approached him. He stopped and acknowledged Deidara with a slight nod. The man smirked and motioned up the stairs with his thumb.

“Madara isn’t here. There’s been some sort of trouble today while you’ve been relaxing.”

Kisame made a rude noise and flipped Deidara off. “Relaxing, my ass. Hauling that ugly shit you call art to a gallery outside of the fucking country is not my idea of a good time.”

Deidara began to threaten Kisame bodily harm, his voice increasing in volume and octave as Kisame unapologetically continued to insult his talent, and Shu moved to leave them behind when someone else joined them.

Obito calmly walked in from an adjoining room, his hands in his pockets and a large, amused smile on his face. Shu clenched his fists by his sides briefly before he relaxed his fingers. His thumb began to rub against the ring on his right hand.

“Calm down, Deidara. You know he only says those things to get a rise out of you,” Obito said as he looked at them. Then his gaze swung over to Shu. “Welcome back, _Shu_.”

“Good evening, Obito,” he replied.

Obito closed his eyes and tilted his face down, clicking his tongue as he pulled one hand from a pocket and waved his finger back and forth at Shu. “No, no, _Shu_. Call me Tobi. If you start to forget the name I go by, I might start to forget the name _you_ go by.” He looked up at Shu with a devious smile. “And we wouldn’t want that, would we?” he finished quietly. Louder, he asked, “How was your trip?”

Shu didn’t respond to either question, but Obito knew he’d gotten the point across with the first one if his smug smile was any indication. The second did not need to be answered in mixed company. 

“Where’s Madara?” he asked to change the subject. The question gained the attention of Kisame and Deidara, who turned their eyes on Shu and Obito and waited for the answer.

The idiotic smile on Obito’s face fell, and he contemplated Shu with a frown. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “He didn’t say where he was going, but when he left, he didn’t look happy.” He looked up at Kisame’s loud snort and smiled helplessly and shrugged. “Well, he looked more unhappy than usual, I guess.”

Shu nodded in acknowledgement of the answer and walked away, ascending the stairs with the intention of barricading himself in his room for a while to enjoy some peace and quiet. Before he could go far, Obito called out to him in a sickeningly sweet voice.

“You didn’t let me finish, _Shu_! Madara will be back within the hour and wants to speak with you.”

Left unspoken was that Madara would expect Shu to be in the man’s study before he arrived; Madara hated to be kept waiting. Inhaling deeply, Shu continued up the stairs, but instead of turning right down the hallway to his bedroom, he turned left and headed for Madara’s study. He pushed open the heavy wooden door and walked in, reclining on the leather sofa along the far wall to wait for the man.

As he reached up to loosen his tie with his right hand, he fished his phone out of his pocket and pressed the side button, frowning slightly when he saw a missed call from a very familiar number, but no voicemail. But that was the only missed call, and his phone showed no new text messages, which was odd, as a day had not gone by in the past several months that _he_ hadn’t contacted him somehow. He contemplated calling, but instead he unlocked the screen and pulled up his text messaging app to send a message.

_Hope you weren’t too worried not to hear from me. I’ll be in a meeting for a bit, so I’ll talk to you later._

He placed the phone back in his pocket and leaned his head back against the couch, his eyes sliding closed as exhaustion caught up with him. The trip had been long and tedious, which always took a toll on his patience, and there had been more and more of them happening lately. All he really wanted to do was go to his room and unwind, but was stuck waiting for Madara.

Shu spent a moment thinking absolutely nothing, enjoying the blankness of his mind and the quiet of the study, but then, as was usual when he had a moment to himself, he began to assess his life choices. He didn’t regret any that he had made, sacrificing his freedom for the happiness of others, but he missed certain aspects of his old life, certain _people_ , and spent these moments remembering the good times and imagining what his loved ones could be doing right now.

Wondering what _he_ could be doing right now that he hadn’t messaged Shu even once today, which was unusual. Even if he was angry with Shu right now. Had been angry with Shu for _years_ , but Shu smiled slightly to think that his anger didn’t keep him from talking to Shu, a balm to his otherwise dull life of solitude.

Then again, the people Madara had surrounded himself with weren’t entirely bad. Shu felt on some days that he really rather liked them. His partner, Kisame, was a good if rather strange man. They’d both had to hurt those close to them in order to protect them, so Shu had immediately felt a sort of kinship with him, which over the years even he could admit had turned into a friendship.

There was Deidara, a struggling artist who Madara had picked up, offering patronage in exchange for odd ‘jobs’ here and there. As Deidara’s installation art often ended up exploding, laced with timed explosives, Shu could easily imagine what those jobs were. Deidara had quickly bonded with Sasori, who had been in the same situation as Deidara and offered the same deal from Madara. Shu chuckled silently thinking about their infamous arguments about what true art really is and Hidan’s reactions when he’d finally had enough of the screeching. Kakuzu stayed out of the arguments, letting the artists do as they pleased since their art were sources of profit for Madara, though he was quick to take Hidan to task when his shrieking would finally get on his nerves.

There was also Madara’s three-man unit known as “Pain,” made up of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, all three orphans that had banded together from a young age and been taken in by Madara. They were Madara’s personal muscle, deadly and reserved—well, Nagato and Konan were reserved—but Shu liked them. They were intelligent and fiercely loyal to each other, even as they pledged their service to Madara. Yahiko reminded Shu a lot of a boy from back home, and oddly enough, so did Nagato. Konan was quite pretty, though Shu felt she should smile more often, especially since she and Yahiko were together. _But really,_ a voice said in his head, _who are you to talk about others needing to smile?_

It sounded strangely like _him_ , and he had to force his lip not to curl in amusement and, to be honest, a little disgust. How dare his subconscious think to lecture him in that voice?

And then there was Obito, Madara’s distant nephew. Shu’s lip wanted to curl in disgust at the thought of him, too. But it wasn’t so much that Shu didn’t like him, just that Obito had this habit of rubbing it in that he knew exactly who Shu was and had no qualms using that information to his advantage. He supposed that once it was no longer an issue, Obito wouldn’t rub him the wrong way anymore. That or Shu would end up kicking the man’s ass, which should keep Obito in his place.

As his mind continued to wander, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Frowning, Shu sat up and pulled the device out, glancing at the screen. His body tensed slightly as he recognized the caller, wondering why he hadn’t heeded the text message. Taking a small breath, Shu accepted the call and brought it up to his ear.

On a sigh, he answered, “Foolish little brother.”

Before his caller could answer, the door to the study opened, and Madara, with Obito behind him, their faces grim, walked in. “Hang up the phone, Itachi.”

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun...! ;)
> 
> I've been meaning to say this for a while, but thank you all for the comments on this fic. Honestly, praise embarrasses me to some extent, and I never know how to respond to that kindness. But don't think, for one moment, that I don't appreciate every single word! So, thank you. :)
> 
> We're moving onward to more intrigue and action... and angst! Look forward to it, 'ttebayo!


	7. Chapter 6

They’d decided to use Kiba’s car since it wasn’t well known at the station. Naruto sat in the back nervously, his arms crossed over his chest and his leg bouncing up and down. Kiba cursed behind the steering wheel and caught Naruto’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Dude, please calm the fuck down. You’ve talked us into this, so you need to keep your cool.”

Naruto scoffed, but he stopped his leg. “I’m just thinking of what might happen if Dad finds out about this.” Among other things. To be honest, he couldn’t really stop thinking about who Sasuke wanted to call and _why_ , but he was still set on helping him get his phone. He sighed and uncrossed his arms as Kiba parked in the station’s garage. “All right, Shika, let’s go over this again.”

Shikamaru sighed as he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned a bit in the seat. “We’re going to go in, and Kiba is going to talk to them about Sasuke’s ‘suspicious’ behavior lately, keeping in mind not to mention anything about text messages or phone calls. We want their attention as far away from the phone as possible. Focus on how much more anti-social he’s been and your worry that maybe Mr. Uchiha had let something slip about a case that disturbed him. That will hopefully redirect their attention to his dad’s unsolved cases.”

Kiba let out something that sounded suspiciously like a whine. “I really don’t know about this. What if they find out I’m lying?”

Shikamaru shrugged. “It’s not against the law to lie to the cops. What are they going to do?”

Naruto grunted, knowing _exactly_ what his dad was going to do when he found out about this. But… the only one who knew about the phone was Kakashi and _maybe_ a couple of the detectives, so if it went missing, there was the slightest possibility that Kakashi wouldn’t care. He’d said he’d already looked through it and hadn’t found anything useful.

“While they’re questioning Kiba, I’ll distract anyone else so Naruto can get into Kakashi’s office and grab the phone.”

“What if Kakashi isn’t one of the ones to question me?” Kiba asked.

Shikamaru shrugged again. “Plan B.”

“Which is?”

“Yep,” Shikamaru answered and moved to exit the car. Kiba and Naruto scrambled to follow him. Kiba continued to mumble about how this was a bad idea, but Naruto became more determined as they followed Shikamaru to the elevator. If worse came to worst, he’d fall on his knees and beg Kakashi to give him the phone. He almost hated to admit it, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do to help Sasuke.

They entered the elevator and waited impatiently as it took them to the correct floor, grateful it hadn’t stopped on any other floors and provided more witnesses to their presence. Especially since they were about to commit a crime, though Naruto hadn’t pointed that little fact out to Kiba. Then again, _Naruto_ was the one about to commit a crime, not Kiba, so it was fine, which is exactly what he would tell Kiba if he started getting too antsy about it. He’d just be sure to leave out the word “accomplice” when he did so.

The elevator stopped at Homicide, and they stepped out of the car, Shikamaru having to shove Kiba a bit to get him moving. As they rounded the corner, the same flurry of activity that had greeted Naruto earlier was still going on, but it was a little bit more subdued. Shikamaru glanced around and then turned to Naruto.

“You didn’t tell me they activated the tip line,” he whispered.

Naruto shrugged helplessly. “I forgot! I was a little preoccupied.” He glanced over at Kakashi’s office and saw the gray haired man sitting behind his desk. But as if a sixth sense had gone off, he looked up and pinned Naruto with his gaze. Naruto watched as he reached for something and started to write before ripping off what looked to be a sticky note and moving back from his desk. His arm moved out of sight, and then he was standing and walking out of his office.

“Naruto. Shikamaru. What brings you both here?”

Shikamaru shoved Kiba in front of them. “Our friend Kiba has some information about Sasuke. We thought it might help.”

Naruto clenched his jaw as Kakashi stared at them. Shikamaru’s voice had been practically _dead_ as he’d said the line, but he hoped Kakashi took it as his usual tone and not something else. He was afraid that Kakashi would suddenly call their bluff, but he eventually nodded.

“Any information may be helpful. Please follow me, Kiba.” Kakashi cocked his head to the side, indicating which way they were heading, and Kiba reluctantly followed, shooting a nervous glance over his shoulder at Naruto and Shikamaru. Then they rounded a corner and were out of sight. Naruto released a relieved breath and turned to Shikamaru.

“All right. Next?”

“Oh, by the way,” Kakashi said as he suddenly popped his head back around the corner, “Why don’t you two wait in my office until we’re done so you’re not in the way?”

Naruto blinked, and he was gone. After a moment, he smiled at Shikamaru. “Lucky break, huh?”

Shikamaru continued to stare at the place Kakashi had disappeared before he shrugged and moved toward Kakashi’s office. “Well, means less work for me.”

Naruto caught up to him and punched him in the arm. “Lazy ass.”

Shikamaru grunted, but he didn’t deny it. They entered Kakashi’s office and stood by the door for a second. Shikamaru looked behind them, and then moved just behind Naruto, trying to block the view inside the office.

“Get the phone,” he whispered.

Naruto nodded and quickly moved around Kakashi’s desk, pulling out the top drawer on the right. Inside were a couple of books that Naruto made a face at, and he pushed them aside to see if the phone was underneath them. When he came up with nothing, he closed the drawer and opened the one beneath it. The evidence bag with Sasuke’s phone sat inside that drawer, and Naruto smiled at finding it until he noticed the sticky note stuck to it, Kakashi’s lazy handwriting staring him in the face: _Be sure to return the phone._

Naruto’s eyes widened, his lip quivering in his effort to not shout. Shikamaru hissed out his name, so he quickly snatched up the bag and stuffed it into his pocket, slamming the drawer shut in his haste to get this part over with. He rounded the desk and sat heavily in one of the chairs in front of it. Shikamaru joined him in the chair next to his.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You look sick to your stomach.”

Naruto ran his hands over his face several times, ending by sliding his fingers through his hair and leaning forward. He glanced at Shikamaru out of the corner of his eye, his head still down and his hands clasped above it. Then he sat up and back, letting out a loud sigh.

“Kakashi knows we’re here for the phone. He deliberately told us to come in here for a chance to take it.” If the situation wasn’t so serious, Naruto would have laughed at the look on Shikamaru’s face. Instead, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He didn’t know why Kakashi was letting him take the phone or how he even knew that he was here for it, but Naruto had to wonder if it was because his dad or Hinata’s dad knew that he knew about Sasuke. But neither man had acted like that when he’d gone back to the ICU and found them there discussing some protocol or another with Tsunade.

“Naruto,” Shikamaru called, and he sat up and looked at his friend. He opened his mouth to continue, but a sound cut in, a sound Naruto recognized as Sasuke’s notification tone. He quickly pulled the phone from his pocket. The screen was locked, but showed the message and sender.

_Shu  
Hope you weren’t too worried not to hear from me. I’ll be in a meeting for a bit, so I’ll talk to you later._

Naruto could only stare at the phone, long after the screen had gone black. He couldn’t even respond to Shikamaru’s insistent attempts to get his attention. The text message was rather harmless, when taken at face value, but the implication sliced into Naruto like a hot knife. The message implied that Sasuke often _heard_ from this _Shu_ , and Naruto couldn’t help but wonder if this was the person who had texted Sasuke last night.

Just the thought that it might be true, that this might be the person that Sasuke wanted to rely on, angered Naruto and scared him at the same time. He felt empty and sad, angry and nervous, and, beneath all that, resigned. He and Sasuke weren’t _in a relationship_ ; he had no say in who Sasuke turned to for things like comfort and companionship, help and support. Sasuke only wanted Naruto for one thing, and it wasn’t any of those.

He finally brought his attention to Shikamaru, who had stood from his chair and had his hands on Naruto’s shoulders. He tried to smile, but by the worried look on Shikamaru’s face, he guessed he failed. To the unspoken question, Naruto only shook his head and put the phone back in his pocket. Shikamaru leaned back and studied him, his hands shoved into his own pockets.

Before long, but more importantly, before Shikamaru could ask any questions, Kiba and Kakashi came back. Kakashi thanked Kiba for the information and shooed them out of his office, claiming to have some things to work on. Naruto didn’t argue with him. Even if Kakashi condoned him taking the phone, he’d get into much more trouble than Naruto if they were caught.

They got into the elevator and rode it down in silence. Naruto fidgeted, trying to keep himself from pulling the phone from his pocket. When they hit the garage, they quickly but calmly walked to Kiba’s car and left. Once they were a fair distance away, the tension seemed to ease from Kiba and Shikamaru, and Naruto finally pulled the phone from his pocket and opened the bag.

“Good, you got it,” Kiba said from the front. Naruto looked up and caught his eyes in the rearview mirror. 

“Kakashi practically gave it to us. How did the questioning go?” Shikamaru asked.

“What?” Kiba shot a questioning look at Shikamaru before focusing on the road again. “Well, shit. I guess that’s why he didn’t ask me too many questions. He just asked for the information I had, and he and the other officer spent some time discussing the different cases Sasuke’s dad had been working on in very vague terms. Kinda annoying, actually.”

“Hm,” Shikamaru hummed to himself, his fingers on his chin as he closed his eyes in thought. “Anyway, that aside, our next step is to get the phone to Sasuke. ICU visiting hours are over, so I was thinking—and Naruto, you might not like this—we’ll need to get Sakura’s help.”

Naruto looked up from the phone. “Why do we need Sakura’s help?”

“She’s an intern at Konoha General. She might be able to get us in. Or at least get the phone to Sasuke. But… we’ll have to let her know that Sasuke’s still alive to get her cooperation.”

Naruto snorted. Shikamaru probably said that because of Sakura’s obvious feelings for Sasuke, but Sakura was probably the last person Naruto had to worry about. “Whatever. I don’t think we have to get Sasuke the phone tonight, so let’s see how tomorrow goes before we bring in more people.”

He fingered the phone in his hand, his mind going back to what he’d been contemplating before Shikamaru had gained his attention. Though he’d told himself back in Kakashi’s office that this was none of his business, he found that he wanted more and more to find out who this Shu was and his connection to Sasuke. He was thinking about contacting this man, even though Sasuke would probably kill him when he found out.

But since Sasuke was probably going to cast him aside soon anyway, Naruto didn’t see how this made a difference. Making up his mind, he thrust the phone forward between Kiba and Shikamaru.

“Shika, open this phone.”

“What?” he asked, turning in his seat as much as the seatbelt would allow.

“Open it. It’s locked.”

“I got that. Why should I open it?”

“Shika… please,” he asked quietly, his head down and hair covering his eyes. He heard Shikamaru sigh, but he also grabbed the phone, and Naruto released a tense breath and looked out the window. They were close to Kiba’s house, and as Shikamaru worked on cracking Sasuke’s pass code, they pulled into the driveway.

As they got out of the car, Shikamaru grunted and handed the phone back to Naruto. “Done. And I changed the settings so that it won’t lock again. Just in case.”

Naruto smiled as he hugged Shikamaru with one arm, his eyes on Sasuke’s home screen. He stopped short, though, when the picture registered. It was of him and Sasuke, though he was asleep and leaning on Sasuke’s shoulder. It… surprised him and pleased at the same time, to the point he almost decided not to contact Shu. But then he saw the message icon in the top left corner of the screen, and all of those other horrible feelings welled up again. 

He walked forward as he pulled up Sasuke’s contacts and swiped down until he found Shu’s name. He pushed it with his thumb and brought the phone to his ear as he entered the house. He closed the door, wondering if Shu was going to answer and, if not, if he should leave a message. But then it didn’t matter, because the call connected.

_“Foolish little brother.”_

The voice was deep and unfamiliar, but only one person called Sasuke that, and Naruto couldn’t summon the breath to answer. But before he could even think to answer, he heard another unfamiliar voice over the line.

_“Hang up the phone, Itachi.”_

The line went dead. Naruto stood staring at nothing, the phone still to his ear. Kiba and Shikamaru came back into the corridor, asking what was wrong, but he was unable to answer. His heart beat erratically, and he thought he might pass out if he didn’t start to breathe properly.

_Holy fucking shit!_

Itachi was alive, obviously; Naruto never had a doubt that he was. But… in contact with Sasuke? And Sasuke… hadn’t told Naruto?

_[Don’t you trust me?]_

The answer, it seemed, was no. Sasuke didn’t trust Naruto with this information, with anything. Sasuke wanted to reach out to a man who had _abandoned_ him for help instead of Naruto.

_Heh. That makes perfect sense. Because I’m_ nobody _to Sasuke._

As Kiba and Shikamaru tried to get him to respond, Naruto finally lowered the phone from his ear, gripping it hard enough to creak in his hand. He clenched his jaw and moved forward into the house, heading for the kitchen and hopefully some liquor. If Sasuke wanted Itachi’s help, then Naruto would make sure he got it. He’d call Itachi again, let him know what happened and where to find Sasuke, and wipe his hands of the whole thing. He swung open Kiba’s refrigerator and pulled out the first alcoholic beverage he could find.

At least now he knew where he stood with Sasuke. After all this time.

Nowhere.

~*~

Itachi immediately hung up the phone and stood as Madara and Obito made their way deeper into the room. He saw Yahiko behind them, who pulled the door shut, and Itachi knew that Pain would stand guard outside even while in Madara’s own home.

Madara stopped in front of his desk and leaned against it, his arms folded across his chest. His long black hair was pulled back into a low tail, much like Itachi’s, and his tie had been undone. Obito moved to stand next to Itachi.

“Fugaku and Mikoto are dead,” Madara said without preamble, and when the words finally registered, Itachi felt like he had been punched in the gut. His lungs refused to pull in air, and his legs tried to collapse beneath him. Obito’s hand came up and rested on the back of his arm. Itachi shot a glance his way and saw the anger and grief at the news on his face. He looked at Madara, whose face was impassive, but Itachi saw a simmering rage deep in his eyes.

Now he knew exactly why someone had called him from that number. 

“How?” he eventually managed to ask.

“Hit. It seems Danzo has made his move.”

Itachi’s jaw clenched, and his fists tightened by his side. His phone creaked in his hand, and he looked down at it briefly before lifting his head. “Sasuke?”

Madara sighed quietly and looked down, his brows drawing together slightly. “Unknown. Video shows three body bags, but my… colleagues report only two bodies.” Madara shifted his eyes to Itachi’s phone.

Itachi brought it up and looked at the black screen. “The call was from Sasuke’s phone.”

Madara nodded. “Maybe we can trace it. Have Sasori hook it up, in case the number calls back.” He looked at Obito. “I want everyone ready to mobilize. Danzo has overstepped his bounds recently, and now he’s guaranteed his own death with the spilling of my family’s blood.”

Obito murmured that he’d have it done immediately, but before he could move, Itachi’s phone rang again. The screen lit up to show Sasuke’s name, and Itachi hurriedly answered, placing the call on speaker.

“Sasuke? Are you all right?”

“Heh. That depends on your definition of all right.”

Itachi stared at the screen, momentarily at a loss when it was not Sasuke’s voice that answered, but he quickly recovered. Where was Sasuke?

“Who is this?” he asked quietly.

“Um, you might not remember me. I’m Naruto. Sasuke’s friend?”

Itachi blinked and looked up at Madara and Obito. He remembered Naruto, the blue-eyed, blond-haired boy of whom he’d been thinking earlier and, more importantly, the Chief of Police’s son. 

“Naruto, why do you have Sasuke’s phone? Where is he?”

Madara canted his head to the side, a curious and interested look on his face.

“He was shot. Itachi… your parents…”

Itachi’s fist clenched at his side. “I know, Naruto. Tell me about Sasuke.”

“He’s in the hospital.”

Itachi almost sagged in relief. His little brother was alive.

“My dad, I think, is working to keep him safe by telling everyone he’s dead, but he’s recovering from surgery in the ICU.”

“Which one?”

“Konoha General.”

“And now why do you have his phone? Why can’t he talk?”

“Um, well, he asked me to bring him his phone, and I might have forgotten to tell him it had been collected as evidence.”

Naruto laughed nervously, and Itachi raised a brow as Madara smirked and Obito stifled a laugh.

“Anyway, I might have also gone to the police station and, uh, collected it back. I figured he wanted to call some guy named Shu, and when I call this guy, it turns out to be you.”

Itachi inhaled and exhaled slowly before he spoke. “Thank you for helping Sasuke, Naruto. It takes guts to commit a crime for a friend.” He smirked himself as Madara’s smirk grew wider and Obito failed to stifle another laugh. “Are you at the hospital?”

“No. I have to get this phone back to the station, so I called you for Sasuke. He says he wants out of the hospital, so I guess he figured you could pull that off since the Old Lady and my old man can be pretty stubborn.”

“Thank you, Naruto. I will go fetch him. Meet us there.”

“Um, no, that’s okay. You just make sure Sasuke is safe. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“All right, Naruto. Thank you again.”

“Sure. Bye, Itachi.”

The call ended, and Itachi stared at the screen a moment before putting his phone in his pocket. Naruto had seemed a little off there at the end, but Itachi really didn’t have time to think about it. His priority right now was Sasuke. His eyes shot to Madara.

“Take Kisame and get Sasuke. Bring him here. Keep tabs on this Naruto. He might now know a little too much, but he could be useful. Obito, you have your orders.”

Obito nodded and moved to the door, stopping in time to avoid being hit as Yahiko swung it open from the outside. Itachi moved to follow, but Madara suddenly stood straight and blocked him from leaving, ordering Yahiko to call up the car and inform Kisame to be ready. Itachi added a request that he have Kisame grab clothes from his room. When the door closed, he turned to Itachi, his arms still crossed over his chest.

“How was the trip?”

Itachi was momentarily stumped by the question, almost having forgotten that he’d been gone the past few days on an errand for Madara. But Madara wasn’t really asking about the trip, Itachi knew. He shrugged. “Everything’s fine for you.”

Madara smiled, a sharp grin that held smug amusement. “Of course. I’ve been careful not to let it be otherwise when I send you to handle something.” 

Itachi stared at him. Something about the way he said it made warning bells go off in his head.

Madara stared at Itachi intensely in return, perhaps debating saying more, and he finally continued, “We have been playing a game, you and I, of cat and mouse, perhaps, with Obito as an amused observer to this family reunion of sorts.” He paused. “I have never gotten along with Fugaku, perhaps due to the age gap between us; we were raised in two different times, taught two different sets of values. A side effect, I think, of our father’s advanced age by the time Fugaku was born. But you would be a fool to think that your father didn’t know why you left and why you never went back.”

Itachi stilled, his body frozen to the spot under Madara’s unwavering stare. 

“You were a curious and smart young boy who, as time went by, pieced together small bits of the puzzle and discovered the danger lurking in the shadows. And then you came to me. And I saved you. But, despite your debt to me, you decided to use me—a predator used to those shadows—and became a predator yourself. But your prey is cunning and naturally untrusting and strikes before all the pieces are in place to take it down. The predator has failed.”

Madara couldn’t have hurt him more had he shot him. He _had_ failed. He’d allowed harm to come to his loved ones, making all the years he’d been in Madara’s care seem useless. But he wouldn’t let that stop him. He could still save Sasuke and avenge his parents.

Madara sighed quietly. He uncrossed his arms and placed a hand on Itachi’s shoulder. “Do not think me unfeeling, Itachi. Fugaku was my blood. Danzo will pay for this.”

Itachi could only stare. He’d thrown himself into Madara’s grasp years ago and knew the man valued him as a skilled henchman, but he’d never once contemplated the notion that Madara cared about their familial bonds. But the other thing that Madara said finally struck him.

“You know, don’t you? What I have been doing.”

Madara shrugged and removed his hand from Itachi’s shoulder. “Funneling information on Danzo to the police? Yes. I’ve allowed this. You did not divulge anything on my business, which I made sure you couldn’t, and I have long been tired of Danzo’s posturing, so I had no qualms with you trying to take Danzo down by legal means. But with the spilling of Uchiha blood, legal means will no longer suffice. I will make my move.”

Itachi frowned slightly as Madara moved away and sat behind his desk. “Why do you think Danzo did this?”

“I believe that there is a mole in my organization, one who reports to Danzo, who may or may not have passed on some information that I would rather Danzo not have.” He shuffled some papers around and reached for a pen. “Go get Sasuke. We’ll continue this discussion when he’s safe.”

Itachi resumed his progress to the exit. Konan opened the door as he neared it, and he glided past, nodding a greeting to Nagato as he headed for the stairs. He saw Kisame waiting at the bottom as he made his way down, a frown marring the man’s usually— _sadistically_ —cheerful face.

“What’s going on, Shu? Tobi just told me we’re heading out? I’ve been up since the wee fucking hours, man.”

Itachi brushed past him to the front door, held open by the same maid who’d greeted them when they’d arrived. As he descended the stairs to the waiting car, Kisame behind him, he said, “My name is Itachi Uchiha. We are going to retrieve my brother from the hospital.” He barked out his destination to the driver as he entered the vehicle, fully intending for the man to leave Kisame behind if he didn’t get in the car _now_.

Kisame cursed as he slid into the car after Itachi, slamming the door shut as the driver quickly pulled away from the house and drove down the drive to the gate. “Uchiha? You’re _related_ to the boss?” He didn’t answer, though he suspected Kisame didn’t expect him to, because he continued, “Shit, why have I never known this? And what’s this about your brother? And a hospital?”

Itachi didn’t miss the sharp intake of breath from his driver, the tightening of his hand on the wheel, and he narrowed his eyes in speculation. Madara spoke of a mole, but the driver wouldn’t be privy to the kind of information Madara alluded to. But it certainly led to thoughts that there might be _moles_. It might not have been mere coincidence that Danzo struck his family when he was out of the country.

Ignoring Kisame, he reached into his pocket for his phone. Dialing, he only waited for the call to connect before saying, “I need you to meet me at the hospital.”

_“… I already told you that I had something to do.”_

Itachi noticed the pause, but didn’t have the luxury of examining it. He also noticed that he was on speakerphone. “I am unconcerned with your business now. Things have changed, and I need you at the hospital.”

_“Look, you can’t just wind up on the other end of a phone call after all these years and then expect me to ask how high I should jump!”_

Itachi closed his eyes and tried to calm down. This could end very badly— _for Sasuke_ —for many reasons. “Naruto,” he said quietly, trying not to be heard from the front seat, “This is not a game. When I tell you I need you to do something, it is a life and death matter.”

_“… Has something happened to Sasuke?”_

“No,” he said, drawn out just long enough to hint at what was not said: _not yet_. He listened to Naruto sigh heavily over the phone, his eyes once again watching his driver.

_“Look, I wasn’t kidding about the phone. I need to get it back to the station. But it sounds like you need help, too. I’ll send someone I trust to help you, okay? And he’s probably as big a genius as you and Sasuke, so he can contribute way more than I can.”_

Itachi considered his options and relented. “What’s his name?”

_“Shikamaru Nara. He’s tall and lanky, with brown hair that sits on top of his head like pineapple leaves.”_

“Thank you.” His lips twitched at the description, but it certainly would help in making sure Itachi found the right person and quickly. “I need him there as soon as possible.” Itachi could just make out the sound of a door closing.

_“He’s on his way. Huh? Wait! You’re going, too?”_

Itachi heard a voice answer, but he couldn’t make out the words. Then he heard the door close again.

_“Apparently, you will have two helpers. Then again, it might still be just the one. Kiba’s not a genius, so… yeah.”_

“Any help is valuable,” he said. The most help being a car that Danzo wouldn’t be familiar with and so wouldn’t have an easy time tracking. “Hopefully your helpers understand I need them there immediately.”

_“Uh, yeah, I think they got that.”_

“Then I will let you go so that you may return the phone.” He almost said goodbye when another thought struck him. “Who should I speak to at the hospital to expedite the discharge?”

_“He’s being looked after by Tsunade—um, Dr. Senju—and, um, Kabuto, I think? The officer in charge of the investigation is Hiashi Hyuuga.”_

_Kabuto? Could it be…?_

Putting that thought aside for the moment, Itachi said, “Thank you for the information.” He didn’t wait for Naruto’s answer, just ended the call and continued watching the driver. Kisame must have figured something was wrong, because he didn’t resume his line of questioning, only sat there and nervously curled and uncurled his fingers.

They eventually pulled up to the entrance of the hospital, and Itachi and Kisame exited the car. Itachi turned to the driver and told him to return to Madara’s mansion. The man seemed surprised, and Itachi watched intently as his eyes quickly darted to the side nervously before he eyed Itachi and nodded his assent. Itachi waited until he was out of the parking lot before turning to enter the hospital.

“Call Madara and tell him to question the driver.”

“What?” Kisame asked, but he immediately reached for his phone. “What’s going on?”

“Sasuke is in danger. The driver, if my suspicions are correct, is already on the phone with Danzo letting him know Sasuke is still alive.”

“What the fuck does that mean? Shit!” Kisame continued to curse, but then Itachi heard the murmured conversation between him and whoever answered the phone.

“Also tell them that I will be taking Sasuke someplace other than the mansion.”

“Where?” Kisame asked.

“The only place he’ll be safe now: Hashirama Senju’s.” He heard Kisame’s muttered curse, so added, “That, you don’t have to tell Madara. He probably won’t like it too much.”

As he passed through the doors, he immediately headed for the elevator, recalling that Sasuke was in ICU. A nurse tried to assist them, but one look from Kisame had her backing off. The elevator opened and quickly took them to the ICU floor. The sign on the wall indicated that visiting hours were over, but Itachi walked to the large doors and knocked hard on the window.

Two officers immediately appeared at the door windows, guns half raised as they glared at Itachi. A tall woman, her blonde hair in two tails down her back, turned at the noise. She glared at him, but then her eyes widened, and her mouth moved, obviously instructing the nurse to open the door, as it soon unlocked and allowed Itachi and Kisame to pass through. He came to a stop before the woman.

“Itachi Uchiha?”

He nodded. “I have been informed that my brother is here. I would like to see him and then take him home.”

The woman looked at Kisame over Itachi’s shoulder and then focused on Itachi again, nodding. “I am Tsunade. I operated on Sasuke. We’ve placed him up here for his protection.” She turned and walked over to the closest room. Itachi noticed the two officers outside the door. “You can see him, but I’ll have to let Detective Hyuuga know you wish to discharge him.”

“Do what you feel is necessary, Doctor. But Sasuke is an adult, and if he wishes to leave, neither you nor the police can stop him.” He slipped in front of Tsunade and slid open the door to Sasuke’s room on his own. Tsunade was saying something behind him, the tone of her voice irritated, but Itachi had no time to attend. The sight of Sasuke lying on a hospital bed, paler than he remembered him, occupied his attention. Then he was across the room, his hand on Sasuke’s forehead.

Dark eyes fluttered open, and it took several seconds, but they eventually became clear and alert. And Itachi noticed the smallest bit of surprise and wonder in their depths. “Itachi,” Sasuke whispered.

“Foolish little brother,” he whispered back, appalled that he was desperately holding back tears. But the thought that his parents were dead and that he had been so close to losing his brother, as well…

“How?”

“Naruto called me.” He watched closely, amused, as Sasuke’s eyes widened at the information. “He’s done some extraordinary things for you, Sasuke. Be sure to thank him.”

Sasuke nodded hesitantly, his eyes still wide. Before they could continue, someone cleared his throat behind them. Itachi turned to regard the intruder, his hand still on Sasuke’s head. Kisame was between him and the door, which was crowded with Tsunade and who he assumed to be the detective.

The man’s eyes widened slightly when Itachi turned around, but he quickly composed himself. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s seen you, Itachi. My name is Hiashi Hyuuga. May I ask how you found out about Sasuke?”

“That, Detective, is not important. Sasuke has expressed a wish to leave, and I am here to see that he is discharged.”

“So I hear. Listen, Sasuke’s in real danger, Itachi. We would prefer if he stayed under our watch.” Itachi said nothing. Hiashi sighed. “Will you at least tell us where you intend to take him? Better still, do you have any information on why this happened?”

Itachi momentarily thought of the informants Madara had in the police force, quickly concluding that Danzo would also have informants. Telling the police where he intended to take Sasuke was not a viable option.

“I have nothing to say to the police. Doctor, please draw up the discharge papers. We will leave now.” Itachi’s phone chimed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. It was a text message from an unknown number, but since it informed him that Shikamaru and Kiba were at the entrance, he assumed it was from Naruto. He unlocked his phone and messaged back to have them drive over to the ambulance entry and be ready to leave quickly. He looked up from his phone and saw that Tsunade was still standing behind the detective. “Why are you still here, Doctor?”

“I don’t recommend moving him,” Tsunade said, her hands fisting by her sides. “He was just in surgery less than twenty-four hours ago.”

Itachi understood that they were only doing their jobs, so held his temper in check. For now. “Your recommendation has been considered. Please prepare the discharge papers.”

Tsunade glared at him a moment before spinning on her heel and exiting the room. Itachi placed his phone back in his pocket and turned back to face Sasuke, who had been rather quiet through the exchange. His brother was staring at the ceiling, a contemplative frown on his face, but those black eyes, so like his own, rolled down to look at him when he placed his hand on Sasuke’s forehead again.

Sasuke looked vulnerable lying in the bed, his head and arm wrapped in bandages and his skin paler than normal. No doubt it was too much to be in such pain and just lie there with the thought constantly in your mind that your parents are dead. As if following that thought, a tear slipped from Sasuke’s eye and soaked into the pillow. Itachi, pained by the sight, pushed his hand up to Sasuke’s hair and leaned down to kiss Sasuke’s forehead, just a gentle press of lips to let him know Itachi did not think him weak for crying at the death of their parents.

Sasuke made a quiet, choked off sound. He looked close to breaking down, but the click of a shoe on the floor had him pressing his thin lips together and hardening his eyes. Itachi straightened and found the detective standing next to him by Sasuke’s bed.

“I can’t really stop you from leaving, but I’ve not been able to question Sasuke about the attack.” Hiashi looked Itachi in the eye, but he wasn’t asking for his permission, merely informing him that he had a job to do before they left. Itachi inclined his head. Hiashi regarded him a moment before addressing Sasuke. “Sasuke, do you know who did this?”

Sasuke didn’t answer right away, something Itachi took note of, but eventually said, “No.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Sasuke looked as if he would refuse, but he sighed quietly and kept his eyes on the ceiling. “I heard a noise and went downstairs. It was dark, so I turned on the light. There were… three people in the living room. One pointed a gun at me and told me to move over to the couch. I asked what they wanted. They didn’t answer, and then they shot me. I don’t know how, but then Mom and Dad were there… and then…”

Sasuke stopped talking, his throat working to, Itachi assumed, keep his sobs at bay. Hiashi reached out a hand and patted Sasuke’s atop the blanket, telling him it was okay, that they knew what happened from there.

“We assumed Mikoto tried to patch you up.”

Sasuke took in a deep breath and nodded. “She told me to run.”

“And you ran to Naruto Uzumaki?”

Itachi didn’t miss Sasuke flinching at the man’s name, and he guessed Hiashi didn’t either.

“Naruto is… a friend. He was close by, and his dad is the Chief. I thought I could get help.”

Before Hiashi could continue his questions, Kisame’s phone rang and Tsunade returned to the room. Itachi kept one ear on Kisame’s conversation and one on Tsunade’s instructions to Sasuke, informing him that he was leaving against medical advice, which he would need to sign something to that effect, and directing him on how to take the painkillers and antibiotics that she’d had brought up from the pharmacy.

When Sasuke had been gingerly sat up and signed all the appropriate documents, Itachi asked Kisame for the clothes he’d grabbed and helped Sasuke get dressed. As they moved to leave, Sasuke leaning on him to relieve the pressure on his gunshot wound, Hiashi stopped them.

“We would like to keep in contact with you. I know the Chief, in particular, would like to speak with you. May we get your phone number?”

“No,” Itachi said, not intending to prolong the discussion, especially when Danzo probably already knew about Sasuke, and he continued past the detective. But before leaving the room, he did throw the detective a bone. “I would advise you look into who those at your precinct have been in contact with lately.”

“Why?” one of the other officers asked, but Itachi ignored him and left the ICU room. Naruto’s friends were waiting, and Itachi needed to know what Madara had to say.

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Family reunions abound. And things are going to get hectic. Heh. What in the hell is even happening? Mwah ha ha.


	8. Chapter 7

Sasuke shifted slightly on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling and fighting the urge to cry. Fighting even harder against the urge to rub his fingers across his lips. Hours had passed since Naruto had left, and yet he could still feel the slight pressure of Naruto’s lips on his own.

It had been… beyond a surprise to wake up and find Naruto in his hospital room. The last conversation they’d had, Naruto hadn’t wanted anything to do with him, and when Sasuke thought about the reason why, he felt Naruto was justified.

That fight—though started by him, he’d own that—had hurt him as much as it had Naruto. Though it was nothing Naruto had said that had caused him hurt. No, he’d been hurt by his own words to Naruto, pained that his inability to… open himself up to others or whatever had caused Naruto to doubt his… feelings, he guessed, and what they had together.

_[Don’t you trust me?]_

Sasuke bit back a curse. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. But maybe he didn’t have to. Naruto had come to see him, had cried for him, held his hand and kissed him. Perhaps Naruto had forgiven Sasuke for his harsh words. Or perhaps, out of pity, Naruto was holding his anger at bay. But whichever, he was at least willing to help Sasuke get out of here.

He needed to call Itachi. His brother would come get him, and maybe they could find out why _those three_ had killed his parents and who had put them up to it. He didn’t know if Madara would be willing to help them, though Sasuke hoped he would. His connections would be far more useful than any the police could offer.

He felt tears sting his eyes, and he carefully lifted his bandaged arm and pressed it against his face, hoping to stem the onslaught of grief that tried to overwhelm him. He succeeded after a while, and he lowered his arm, now exhausted and hoping that Naruto would be able to get him his phone soon. The tiles of the ceiling began to blur as he stared at them, and he closed his eyes for a moment. 

Something on his forehead forced him to open his eyes, and he realized he must have dozed off when he had trouble focusing on the person next to his bed. He finally recognized his brother, and, stunned by his presence, could only whisper, “Itachi.”

“Foolish little brother,” Itachi said, his voice catching slightly. Sasuke blinked.

“How?” he asked. No one really knew he was here. Then again, Itachi did have Madara’s connections at his disposal.

“Naruto called me.” Sasuke’s eyes widened at the information, thoughts of how Naruto had done that, had known who to contact, rushing through his mind. “He’s done some extraordinary things for you, Sasuke. Be sure to thank him.”

Sasuke nodded hesitantly, his eyes still wide. Naruto had really come through for him, and he wanted to know what had happened, but before he could speak, someone cleared his throat by the door. Sasuke looked in that direction as Itachi turned around. A tall, dark-skinned man stood behind Itachi, and the doctor and some other men were at the door.

One of the men, the one with brown hair and pale eyes, stepped forward into the room. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s seen you, Itachi. My name is Hiashi Hyuuga. May I ask how you found out about Sasuke?”

_So he’s Hinata’s father._

He heard Itachi’s quiet, cold reply, but he didn’t pay attention. Itachi would handle all of this, and he could leave this place. He really must thank Naruto for this. After everything Sasuke had said last night, Naruto was still kind enough to help him. It made him feel even more ashamed of himself.

_[Don’t you trust me?]_

He certainly should have. Itachi had first contacted Sasuke during the first year of high school. He’d been so angry at his brother, but also happy to at least be able to speak to him again, and the only reason he could think of that he hadn’t told Naruto was that, like a child, he’d wanted Itachi all to himself. But that was no reason not to tell Naruto at a later time.

They’d always been in each other’s company because of their fathers, had grown up together. They became friends in middle school, best friends in high school, and… something more in college. There was no justification Sasuke could delude himself with for not telling Naruto that he was in contact with Itachi. Naruto never would have betrayed his confidence if he’d asked him not to in order to protect Itachi. Why couldn’t he have been honest with him? If he lost Naruto on top of losing his parents…

Itachi’s hand returned to his forehead. He looked at his brother, and his shame increased when he felt a tear drop slip from the corner of his eye. _How in the world am I going to make any of this right?_

Itachi smoothed back his hair and leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to Sasuke’s forehead. Sasuke made a quiet, choked off sound. He felt close to breaking down, but the click of a shoe on the floor had him pressing his lips together and hardening his eyes. He watched as Hinata’s father approached his bed and regarded Itachi.

“I can’t really stop you from leaving, but I’ve not been able to question Sasuke about the attack.” Itachi inclined his head, and Hiashi looked at Sasuke. “Sasuke, do you know who did this?”

Sasuke quickly debated the wisdom of speaking to the cops. “No,” he ended up saying.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Sasuke almost refused to answer, the memory painful, but he sighed quietly and kept his eyes on the ceiling. “I heard a noise and went downstairs. It was dark, so I turned on the light. There were… three people in the living room. One pointed a gun at me and told me to move over to the couch. I asked what they wanted. They didn’t answer, and then they shot me. I don’t know how, but then Mom and Dad were there… and then…”

The images flashed before his eyes, and he couldn’t continue. He was trying hard not to cry, and he kept himself from flinching or gasping when Hiashi reached out to pat his hand comfortingly, murmuring nonsense about things being okay.

“We assumed Mikoto tried to patch you up.”

Sasuke took in a deep breath and nodded. “She told me to run.”

“And you ran to Naruto Uzumaki?”

Sasuke did flinch then, unable to contain it when the blond was already a tormenting thought that dragged part of his attention away from the tragedy of losing his parents.

“Naruto is…” He paused for a second, actually not too sure how he should categorize Naruto anymore. They fucked on a regular basis, but after the fight, the only thing he knew for sure was that they were probably still friends. In fact, hadn’t Naruto even…

_[I was mad, you bastard. But you’re my f-friend, and you’ve been shot!]_

Sasuke felt a small pang in his chest recalling Naruto’s words, and he frowned.

“A friend,” he finished. “He was close by, and his dad is the Chief. I thought I could get help.”

He really didn’t want to continue on this topic and was relieved when the doctor came back. At least until, glowering at him, she lectured him on stupidly leaving the hospital against medical advice and forcing him into a sitting position to sign all the paperwork. Then she went over the medication that she set down on the bed. Sasuke nodded that he understood what she’d said, and she backed away from the bed.

Itachi asked the man he’d come in with for clothes, and then he helped Sasuke change into them. They were loose since they were Itachi’s, but he was grateful for it since nothing pressed too hard against his wounds. He leaned against his brother as they moved to leave, his left arm over Itachi’s shoulder, but before they made it out of the door, Hiashi stopped them.

“We would like to keep in contact with you. I know the Chief, in particular, would like to speak with you. May we get your phone number?”

“No,” Itachi said, his tone indicating it was the end of the discussion. They continued past the detective, but before leaving, Itachi spoke again. “I would advise you look into who those at your precinct have been in contact with lately.”

Itachi didn’t stop to answer the detective’s question of why, and Sasuke was trying so hard to concentrate on walking that he didn’t try to ask the same thing. It was difficult; every part of his body hurt, and there were moments on the way to the elevator that Sasuke felt the only thing holding him up was his brother. He even thought there might have been moments that he blacked out, because he didn’t remember getting on the elevator, but was coherent enough to watch the doors glide open on the ground floor. Clenching his jaw, Sasuke tried to gather his wits about him as Itachi directed him to the exit.

But instead of taking the front exit, they turned to the left and walked down a corridor that led to the emergency room and the ambulance entrance. Sasuke tried to ask where they were going, but Itachi shushed him and guided him quickly to the exit, asking for the other man’s help when Sasuke’s legs couldn’t seem to keep up with the quickened pace.

When they exited the doors to the emergency entrance, Sasuke’s attention was caught by a half shouted curse, and he looked up to see a very familiar car and two very familiar people. Against Shikamaru’s muttered protests, Kiba bounded over to them and tried to ask questions and help out at the same time.

“Holy shit, Sasuke, you look like hell!” he practically yelled as he tried to take some of Sasuke’s weight from the other guy helping Itachi hold him up. The other guy stepped forward minutely, blocking Kiba’s access to Sasuke. Kiba frowned up at him before focusing his attention back on Sasuke. “Jesus, what the hell happened? Do you know what we’ve been through?”

Sasuke tried to glare at him, but when his vision started to darken, he stopped and shook his head slightly. He really just wanted to sit or lay down somewhere. And see Naruto. He wanted to see Naruto.

Itachi lifted his left hand and indicated the car behind Kiba. “Please move so that we can get Sasuke in the car and someplace safe.”

Kiba blinked and then moved to obey without saying anything, running back to the car and hopping in the driver’s seat while Shikamaru held the back door open. Itachi’s partner dipped down and slid across the backseat, holding his hand out for Itachi to hand over Sasuke. Sasuke bent at the middle and bit back a cry of pain as the movement put pressure on his gunshot wound. He thought he’d have to bear with it for however long the drive was going to be, but once he was in the car, Itachi and his partner moved him so that he lay across the backseat with his legs in Itachi’s lap and his head in the other man’s lap. It was embarrassing, especially in front of Naruto’s moronic friends, but it did lessen the pain slightly, so Sasuke felt he could bear with it for now.

“Where are we taking him?” Shikamaru asked as he turned in his seat up front to face them.

“Give them the address, Kisame,” Itachi said, and his eyes fixed on Sasuke as Kisame directed Kiba where to go. 

“Tell me what’s going on, Itachi,” Sasuke said quietly.

“First, I want you to tell me everything that happened. Whatever you didn’t tell the police.” Sasuke glared at him. “Tell me what you know, Sasuke, and I will tell you what I know.”

If he could have crossed his arms without aggravating his injuries, he would have. Instead, he glared harder at Itachi to convey his displeasure, but eventually gave in. “There isn’t much I didn’t tell the police. I heard a noise, went downstairs, and was shot. Mom—” Here his voice broke, and he had to take a few moments to regain control of himself. He let out a shaky breath as he continued, “Mom and Dad came downstairs and were also shot. I think… Dad… died quickly, but Mom… Mom, she… she crawled over and wrapped my wound and told me to run. She screamed it at me, and I was so scared…”

He blinked back tears and tried not to sob as he felt Itachi’s comforting hand on his arm. The silence from the front seat was uncomfortable, since he knew that he had witnesses to his moment of weakness.

“Go on, Sasuke,” Itachi urged gently.

Sasuke cleared his throat and closed his eyes. “I left. At first, I didn’t know what to do or where to go. But then… then I thought of Naruto. My goal was to get to Naruto.”

_[Leave, Sasuke. I don’t want to talk to you right now. I don’t even want to see your face!]_

Sasuke let the pain wash over him from Naruto’s words. He didn’t remember them stinging so much when they were first said, but they hurt now, almost as much as his physical wounds. But he realized that he deserved them and that maybe Naruto was close to forgiving him, at least to the point that they could still be friends.

“He wouldn’t…,” he continued, but decided not to go down that road again right now and trailed off. “I decided I didn’t want to get him involved, so I left.” He laughed a little at himself, the sound bitter and harsh to his own ears. “I didn’t know where I’d go, but it didn’t matter. Once I was outside, I got hit by a car.”

“Jesus!” Kiba yelled from the front seat. “Shot and run over? How the hell are you still alive?” Sasuke heard a pained yelp from the front, and he assumed that Shikamaru hit the idiot to shut him up. Sasuke ignored that and stared at Itachi.

“You were right,” Itachi said, a smirk firmly in place. “That wasn’t much more than you told the police.” Sasuke glared and would have kicked Itachi had even the thought of moving not caused his stomach to throb in pain. Itachi, perhaps having read the thought of bodily harm in his eyes, laid his arm across Sasuke’s legs, effectively pinning them in Itachi’s lap. “Tell me what you kept from the detective.”

He ignored the demand. “Tell me what’s going on,” Sasuke repeated through gritted teeth.

Itachi’s eyes flitted to the front seat, a silent question about continuing in mixed company. Sasuke thought about it for a moment, but he didn’t see how them knowing would change anything. He nodded, and Itachi sighed almost inaudibly.

“From what I know—and am willing to divulge at this time—you, Mother, and Father were targeted by Danzo Shimura, because of the threat that both Father and Madara posed to Danzo’s plans.”

Sasuke heard Kiba’s not so quiet cursing in the front seat and even Shikamaru’s quiet exclamation of surprise. Who wouldn’t be surprised? Sasuke’s own eyes were wide from the information that the mayor had ordered a hit on a cop’s family. Though, that didn’t make a lot of sense because the shooters… well, Sasuke didn’t remember them being associated with the mayor _at all_.

He didn’t realize his breathing had become labored until Kisame sat him up, causing him to wince and hiss at the pressure on his wound. He dealt with the pain until he gained control over his breathing, nodding his head to let Kisame know he could be laid down again.

When he tried to open his eyes, not even realizing he’d closed them, the ceiling of the car began to spin. He closed his eyes again, trying to stop the spinning, but it only seemed to make him dizzier. He felt a hand on his forehead, knowing it was Itachi, and tried to calm down.

“Rest, Sasuke. There is more to tell, but let us make sure you’re safe first.”

Sasuke wanted to protest, but he suddenly felt so tired, and he couldn’t open his eyes anymore. Unhappy with this turn of events, Sasuke nonetheless let sleep take him, vaguely hoping his dreams were filled with sunlight and blue skies rather than the blood and gun smoke that he expected.

~*~

Kabuto tried very hard to blend into the background as Itachi Uchiha walked into the ICU. He watched the police and Dr. Senju try to keep Sasuke in the hospital, and his own lips thinned in frustration as he watched Itachi and his partner walk Sasuke out of the ICU.

As the police and Dr. Senju left, Kabuto fished his phone out of his pocket and hurriedly called Orochimaru.

_“Yes, Kabuto? Are you calling to give me more bad news?”_

Kabuto swallowed nervously. Despite the soft voice, he could tell Orochimaru was not at all happy. “Unfortunately, but you might still find it interesting. Itachi Uchiha showed up and collected Sasuke.”

_“That is very interesting. Why don’t you give your boss a call and see what he has to say? I won’t be happy at all if Madara ends up with both Uchiha boys.”_

“Yes, sir. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

Orochimaru hung up on him, so he quickly ended his side of the call and found the contact he needed. Pressing the call button, Kabuto waited impatiently as it rang on the other side. But then it finally connected.

_“Kabuto? Why are you calling me?”_

“Hello, Sasori. I just had the strangest visitor here at the hospital, and I wondered if you knew that Shu had been here.”

_“Oh, that’s right. You work at Konoha General. The boss must have sent him there. Things have been strange around here today. Ah, perhaps you could follow up on something for me. The boss had me tracing a phone number so that we can bring in some kid who knows something regarding Shu, I think, and I’ve pinged it around police headquarters. Have someone swing by there and pick the kid up.”_

Kabuto raised an eyebrow in query. “Oh? What’s his name?”

_“Naruto Uzumaki.”_

Kabuto’s eyes widened in surprise. Was it the same Naruto he met earlier? There was no way it couldn’t be, he thought, as the pieces started to click together. The blond kid, obviously Chief Namikaze’s son, had been here. He’d left the kid alone in the ICU, and the next thing he knew, Itachi Uchiha had shown up to get his brother. There had to be a link.

He smiled as he pushed his glasses up with one finger. “No problem. I’ll definitely have someone pick him up.”

_“Good. Later.”_

Sasori hung up on him, and Kabuto quickly called Orochimaru back.

_“Yes?”_

“Sasori wants me to pick up Chief Namikaze’s son who may know something about Itachi and Sasuke.”

_“Heh. Then pick him up we shall. Where?”_

“He said police headquarters.”

_“Hm. That will be tricky. Well, good. Maybe you haven’t completely failed me.”_

With that, Orochimaru hung up. Kabuto let out a sigh as he put his phone away. Giving Orochimaru Naruto hopefully made up for not being able to deliver Sasuke. And hopefully, his role in this operation was complete.

~*~

Naruto sent Itachi’s directions to Shikamaru and leaned back in the plush chair in Kiba’s living room, covering his eyes with his arm. He’d done what he could for Sasuke, so it was time to return the phone to Kakashi and wait for everything to come to an end: the investigation, the secrecy, and… their relationship.

Well, relationship was probably a strong word. Their… arrangement, he guessed, would end. All for the better, though, since he felt his feelings were becoming too obvious, too… overwhelming, were starting to affect his interactions with and reactions to Sasuke. Eventually Sasuke would notice, so better to end it now than later. But they could still be friends. Probably.

Growling at himself, Naruto removed his arm from his eyes and stood up. Enough thinking about Sasuke and their whatever; he needed to get going. He didn’t have his car, but he could probably walk to headquarters in half an hour. He could run if need be. It might help him eat through some of the stress and frustration that had been hounding him since this whole thing had started.

He reached down for Sasuke’s phone on the coffee table in front of him. He pressed the home button and stared at the picture of them in the background, but only for a moment, refusing to waver despite not really knowing what it meant that Sasuke had a picture of them for the background of his phone. 

Practically screaming at himself, he stood, shoving Sasuke’s phone and the evidence baggy in his pocket as he grabbed his things off Kiba’s coffee table. He was going to return the phone to Kakashi and let all the chips fall where they may. He was so done with this drama.

He left Kiba’s house, making sure to lock the front door and pulling it firmly closed to latch, and began his walk to the police station. He made sure to keep his mind clear of all thought, just taking in the scenery as he shuffled along the sidewalks and crossed streets. It was getting pretty dark, and the streetlights and storefront lighting were growing brighter as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. After about thirty minutes, he walked up to the station stairs and took them two at a time, walking into the lobby and heading straight for the elevator.

He took the car up to Homicide, trudging off the elevator as the doors slid open on a subdued department. The tip line was only being manned by a couple of uniforms, and the other detectives had gone home for the evening. Naruto looked over at Kakashi’s office and found the man still there, bent over some paperwork. He walked over to the open door and knocked on the jamb.

Kakashi looked up from his desk. “Ah, Naruto, thank you for coming back.” He waved Naruto inside. “Get the door and have a seat.” As he did as he’d been told, Kakashi stood and moved to the blinds over the office wall that looked out into the main room and pulled to chain to close them, shutting them off from prying eyes. Kakashi returned to his desk and sat. “So, do you have something for me?”

Naruto nodded and pulled the phone and evidence bag from his pocket. He set them on the desk and fell back against the chair, watching as Kakashi put the phone back in the bag and returned it to his desk drawer. Then Kakashi leaned back in his own chair and joined his hands over his stomach.

Naruto swallowed and looked down at his pants as he pulled invisible lint from the fabric. “So, um, how did you know we were here for the phone?” He looked up when Kakashi hummed in thought.

Kakashi shrugged. “Just a hunch. But my hunches are never wrong.” He studied Naruto for a moment. “Care to tell me why you needed the phone?”

Naruto scowled down at his pants. “Don’t you already have a hunch about it?”

“I do, but now you’re going to confirm it.”

Naruto clicked his tongue. Then he sighed and rolled his head back, looking at the ceiling. “I called Itachi.”

Kakashi’s chair creaked. “Tell me the whole story; start from when you left here.” Kakashi’s voice wasn’t sharp, but the command was unmistakable.

Naruto let out another sigh. “Dad took me with him to the hospital. He and Hinata’s dad went off with the old lady, and I was talking with Genma and Aoba. I left for a minute, and then two other officers showed up and pulled a gun on them.” Naruto brought his head down and looked at Kakashi, who was eyeing him with narrowed, calculating eyes, though Naruto knew it wasn’t really aimed at him. This was just Kakashi visualizing things in his head and piecing everything together.

“Go on,” Kakashi urged.

Naruto wiped his palms against his thighs. “Well, I guess I wasn’t really thinking, but I tackled the guy with the gun, and then they ran. Dad and the other officers went after them, and I stayed behind because Dad told me to. But then the nurse – he called someone, and I heard Sasuke’s name.”

He paused, the urge to cry creeping up on him as he remembered finding Sasuke at the hospital. He leaned over and placed his hand across his eyes as he leaned his elbow on the chair arm. He felt the hot tears on his fingers, but at least he wasn’t sobbing. He breathed in deeply and ran his hand across his eyes before sitting straight and looking at Kakashi.

“I put two and two together, went into the ICU room Genma and Aoba had been guarding, and found… found Sasuke.” He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply to calm himself. He opened his eyes and glared at Kakashi. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kakashi held up one finger. “One – I’m not allowed to divulge details of an ongoing investigation.” Naruto scoffed at that, as the man had nearly personally handed over evidence from the same case. “Two,” he continued, a second finger held up, “I didn’t know until after you left.”

Naruto sniffed, slightly mollified. Kakashi signaled for him to continue. “Well, Sasuke wanted to leave the hospital, and he said he needed his phone for that. I promised him I’d get his phone, so… that’s what I did.”

“But instead of giving the phone to Sasuke, you called Itachi,” Kakashi murmured. “How did you know to call Itachi?”

Naruto stiffened. He didn’t really want to go into how his irrational jealousy had led to him talking to Itachi. He shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know to call him. But there was a contact in his phone that he called and texted regularly, so I took a shot.” He glared at Kakashi again. “So, did you know about Itachi, too?”

Kakashi chuckled. “I actually learned about him after I learned about Sasuke. But I’m sure I know more about him than either you or Sasuke.”

Naruto cocked his head to the side, interested despite his annoyance. “Like what?”

“Did you suddenly join the force?” Kakashi asked, amused. “I’m afraid I have to keep that to myself. But, if you happen to talk to Itachi again, maybe you can ask him yourself.” Kakashi regarded him briefly. “Well, it might interest you to know that Itachi showed up and took Sasuke from the hospital. Do you happen to know where he took him?”

Naruto shook his head. “No clue.” He debated telling Kakashi about Shikamaru and Kiba, but he didn’t want to get them any deeper into this after the huge favor he’d asked of them.

“All right, well, you should be getting home. The last thing I need while working this case is a rampaging redhead looking for her son.”

Naruto smiled slightly at the imagine of his mother halting an investigation into the murder of a fellow cop just because Naruto wasn’t home by nightfall. But then he flinched a little bit because… she’d probably do it.

He nodded as he stood. “Thanks, Kakashi. And thanks, you know, for letting me take that for a bit.” He nodded his head toward Kakashi’s drawer. “It, um, it meant a lot.”

“Of course, Naruto.”

“All right. ‘Bye, Kakashi.” Naruto waved his hand slightly and then left Kakashi’s office. He pressed the call button for the elevator as he reached it, then stuffed his hands in his pockets. He didn’t really know what to do now. Other than go home and wait. Maybe… maybe he could call Itachi’s phone and talk to Sasuke.

No! The point was to let whatever it was between them fizzle out – a natural conclusion in Naruto’s mind. Calling Sasuke would just prolong the inevitable, and Naruto didn’t really think he could take that. So, waiting it was.

The doors slid open, and Naruto entered the car and pressed the button for the lobby. The doors slid closed, and the car began its smooth descent to the ground floor, where Naruto exited into an almost deserted lobby and then into the darkened streets. With a quiet sigh, he began the walk to his parents’ house, which would take a little longer than the walk from Kiba’s. Hopefully, someone had picked up his car, because walking everywhere sort of sucked.

The streets were kind of deserted, too; no one wanted to be out with murderers on the loose, he supposed, which allowed Naruto to hear footsteps following a moderate distance behind him. That wouldn’t usually alarm him, but the gait he could discern had him on edge. It was in exact step with his own, and he bet if he paused or turned in a new direction, his follower would do the same.

Well, he wasn’t going to lead whoever it was to his mother, so he did pause – and so did the footsteps. Now on alert, Naruto casually turned to see who was behind him.

“So, you’ve got some skill. Must come with being a cop’s son,” the man said as he got closer to Naruto.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Naruto tensed and prepared to escape. He took in the man’s appearance, committing it to memory to later relate to Kakashi – fair skin, dyed blue hair, green lipstick; an ugly son of a bitch.

“Me? I’m Sakon. Nice to meet you, blondie. And what do I want?” Sakon grinned. “I want you.”

“Not interested,” Naruto said, pulling his hands from his pockets. He would feint a strike – or land one if he could – and jet.

“Oh, but we’re interested in you,” someone said behind him as an arm circled around his chest, a blade pointing at his throat.

Naruto stilled, glaring at Sakon as he began to laugh. “Looks like you need to work on your awareness, blondie. Too preoccupied with me to realize.” He stopped laughing and grinned at his accomplice. “So, how do you want to do this, Ukon?”

“I’d rather not have to carry him. So, are you going to come quietly?” he asked Naruto.

“Doubt it,” a third voice said. Naruto didn’t dare look around to see who it was, with the blade pressing a little harder into his throat, but soon someone came up behind Sakon, a gun in his hand.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ukon asked, his arm tightening around Naruto’s chest. But then he grunted and began to slip toward the pavement, unconscious. Naruto stepped back and made a slight motion to run, but his arm was grabbed by yet another person.

“Sorry, dude. You’ll be coming with us.” Naruto took in the fourth man, slightly shorter than himself, with a long, blond ponytail and bang that covered one eye. He turned his attention to the other as Sakon also hit the pavement, unconscious, taking in red hair and bored eyes.

“What the fuck’s going on?” Naruto growled.

“My name is Sasori, and that’s Deidara,” the redhead nodded at the blond. “These two work for Orochimaru and were sent to retrieve you. Our boss sent us to retrieve all three of you.”

“Like hell I’m going anywhere with you!” Naruto yelled, but Deidara jerked hard on his captured arm.

“Listen, brat. Orochimaru isn’t someone you want to fuck with when you’re you, you know? Our boss isn’t exactly a good guy, but he’s not gonna let Orochimaru have you.”

Naruto pulled at his arm, but Deidara’s grip was tight. “And who is your boss?”

“Madara Uchiha,” Sasori supplied.

Naruto froze at the name.

“Look, kid, you’re in the middle of some very big shit. If you come with us, we can promise it won’t pull the rest of your family into it with you. It’s your call, you know?” Deidara’s grip loosened on his arm.

Scowling, Naruto jerked his arm completely free. That was a low blow, bringing up his mom and dad, but it did the trick. Minato was in it enough, being Chief and all, but Naruto didn’t want his mom anywhere near this mess that Sasuke had seemingly gotten him into.

“Fine. But,” he added, “I want answers. I want to know what’s going on.”

“That’s for Madara to decide,” Sasori said as he flipped the safety of his gun and shoved it into the waistband at the back of his pants. “Deidara, bring the car around. We’ll throw these two in the trunk.”

“On it, my man.” Deidara swung around and disappeared down an alley close to where they stood.

Naruto watched Sasori as he produced duct tape from seemingly nowhere and began to tape Sakon and then Ukon’s wrists together, as well as tape their mouths shut.

“How did you know they’d try to grab me?” Naruto found himself asking.

“I set it up,” Sasori answered simply.

“What?”

“Later.”

A car exited the alley and pulled up alongside the sidewalk, the trunk popping open as it stopped. Deidara hopped out of the driver seat and began to help Sasori haul the two men to the trunk.

“Get in the back,” Sasori ordered Naruto. He hesitated a moment before complying. He could run, but there would be nowhere to go that Madara Uchiha couldn’t find him, and Naruto would rather not have the dangerous kingpin angry at him when he finally caught him.

As he settled in the backseat, the trunk closed and rocked the car, quickly followed by Deidara and Sasori climbing into the front seat.

“Buckle up, brat,” Deidara said as he put the car in drive and sped off.

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After several weeks of thought, this story is going in a slightly different direction than I had planned, but it will ultimately have the same conclusion. I hope you enjoy the ride!


	9. Chapter 8

Obito followed Madara quietly as they returned to Madara’s office, the Pain trio following in the shadows. Madara placed a gloved hand on the office door and pushed it open, quickly walking across the room to his desk. Obito closed the door behind them and leaned against it, watching as Madara began to remove his gloves, finger by finger, and fling them on the desktop.

“That driver knew more information than I would have guessed,” he offered into the silence.

“Yes,” Madara practically hissed in reply.

Oh, boy – someone was mad. Obito winced slightly. Kabuto had better disappear, and fast.

“Not only do I have to worry about Danzo having information he shouldn’t, now I have to worry about Orochimaru,” Madara continued, surprising Obito. Madara wasn’t usually a talker.

“Well, Sasori and Deidara are bringing in some of Orochimaru’s men, so we’ll have an opportunity to find out more about that. And you can bet Sasori will be hunting Kabuto as soon as he drops them off. Then we’ll know a whole lot more.”

Madara didn’t reply, just moved to the window looking down on the courtyard. His reflection in the glass was pensive.

“Why are you bringing the Uzumaki kid here?”

Madara didn’t move from his spot, but his lips quirked in a slight smirk in the reflection.

“You said earlier that he knew too much. Are you going to do something about it?” he pressed.

Madara remained quiet for a few moments before he said, “I merely want to ask him a question.”

“And that’s it?” Obito asked skeptically. “You’ll let him go home afterward?”

“Perhaps.”

Obito sighed and hung his head momentarily. He shouldn’t have expected any more than that from Madara. He pushed himself off the door and moved next to Madara at the window, looking at the courtyard and the drive from the gate and waiting for the tell-tale sign of headlights.

It wasn’t long before a car swung into the drive and rolled down to the courtyard. Obito watched as Hidan and Kakuzu descended the front steps and moved to the trunk, grabbing what appeared to be two people out of it after the trunk lid popped open. Then his attention swung to the backseat door that opened and watched as a boy with blond hair hopped out and stared up at the house in suspicion and awe. His head moved to their window, pausing long enough for Obito to think the boy saw them, but then Deidara and Sasori were directing him up the stairs and into the house.

Obito scratched his head. “Is it just me, or does that Uzumaki kid look like the police chief?”

Madara grunted as he walked away from the window and sat behind his desk. “Are you that oblivious?”

Obito frowned as he took a seat in front of the desk. “What? Am I missing something?”

“‘Uzumaki’ is the maiden name of Chief Namikaze’s wife – a well-kept secret. Unless you also happen to know that the District Attorney’s wife’s maiden name is also ‘Uzumaki’ and that they have a niece named ‘Kushina,’” Madara muttered quietly as he shuffled through a few documents on his desk.

Obito swallowed. “Son of the police chief and great-nephew of the DA? Please tell me you’re just going to ask this question – whatever it is – and let him go.”

Madara smirked as he wrote something. “Do you think I am afraid of the DA?” He huffed out a short laugh. “They’d have to catch me first.”

Before Obito could respond, the door to the office opened, admitting Sasori, Deidara, and the kid. Obito and Madara stayed seated, and Sasori directed the kid to the empty seat next to Obito.

“Please tell Hidan and Kakuzu that I will be down shortly and that I would like to begin immediately,” Madara said to Sasori as he continued to write.

“On it, boss!” Deidara said instead of Sasori and left the office.

“Is there a reason you’re still here?” Madara asked Sasori.

The redhead shifted slightly. “I would like an opportunity to follow up with the leak.”

Madara threw down his pen and pinned Sasori with his intense gaze as he leaned back. “Fine,” he said after a moment, “But be sure to find out when the leak began.”

“Thank you, boss,” Sasori said, and then he moved to leave.

“And Sasori,” Madara said lowly, “If it turns out the leak has always been there, be prepared for the consequences.”

Sasori paused, but he didn’t look back, for which Obito gave him some points. Maybe the words were mild – mixed company and everything – but they were absolute. When Sasori had gone, both Obito and Madara turned their attention to the kid.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” Madara rumbled. “I’m honored to meet such an interesting person.”

The kid looked startled, and he wiped his palms on his jeans. But then his eyes hardened. “Look, while I understand that it’s not a crime to be here – you know, I came in and was quickly and efficiently led here, so I will be able to deny seeing anything incriminating if asked – but I’d rather not be associated with you.”

Obito looked down to try to hide his amused smile.

“So, you know a little something about trials,” Madara said and chuckled. “Are those lessons from your father or your uncle?”

The kid glared at him. “What do you want with me?”

Obito stared at Madara as Madara stared at the kid, also interested in the answer. “You’ve caught my interest, Mr. Uzumaki. I know your whole family – police chief and DA and all – and so I find myself curious how a young man with such connections could get himself mixed up in this… situation.”

Obito looked at the kid, and his glare didn’t let up; he just leaned back and crossed his arms. “What are you getting at?” Obito had to be impressed, just a little bit. He looked at Madara.

“Don’t play this game with me, boy,” Madara said. “I listened to your conversation with Itachi.” Obito looked at the kid.

The kid looked unperturbed. “And? What do you want to know?” Obito looked at Madara again.

“What is your relationship with my nephew?” Madara asked after a moment studying the kid’s mulish expression.

Obito switched his attention to the kid, and he didn’t know how it was possible, but he seemed to be glaring at Madara even harder.

“Like that’s any of your business.”

“Kid, everything to do with my family is my business.”

No one spoke for several moments, and then the kid let out a sigh. “Sasuke’s my friend.”

“Really? You’d commit a felony for a friend?”

The kid blinked. Obito raised a brow at Madara. Madara raised a remote and pressed a button.

_“Anyway, I might have also gone to the police station and, uh, collected it back.”_

The kid’s voice from Itachi’s phone conversation played over hidden speakers, and Madara smirked. 

“I also happened to record it. But don’t worry, not for any malicious reasons. I record all calls.” Madara tossed the remote on the desk. “So, tell me, Mr. Uzumaki: you would steal evidence collected in the murder investigation of a police detective for a friend?”

Obito looked at the kid again and idly wondered if he’d get some sort of neck ache after this conversation.

“I don’t see how knowing is relevant.” Damn, this kid had balls. Obito liked him.

“At the risk of sounding juvenile, that’s for me to know.” Madara paused before narrowing his eyes. “I am a very patient man, Mr. Uzumaki, but I find myself short on time. Please answer the question. You’ll find no judgment here, if that is your concern.”

The kid clicked his tongue and looked away. “We slept together.”

“You’re lovers?”

“No,” the kid spat, his eyes glaring chilly death at the carpet. Obito thought it looked familiar – slightly Uchiha-ish. Except for the blush dusting his cheeks. That wasn’t Uchiha-ish.

“So, the past tense was used purposely? You’re no longer lovers?” The kid said nothing, just clenched his jaw and blushed more, to Obito’s amusement.

Madara was silent, his fingers on his chin in thought as he stared at the Uzumaki kid. Then he shifted and called out, “Pain!” The door opened to admit Madara’s guard trio. “Take the kid home.”

“What?!” Obito and the kid shouted at the same time.

“What bullshit is this? You practically kidnap me just to ask me if I’m fucking Sasuke?!” the kid continued, causing Obito to stare at him in shock.

Madara waved his fingers. “I didn’t exactly ask that, but yes.”

The kid’s mouth was slack in shock, but then his jaw clicked shut and he dropped his chin down to his chest. Obito shifted and tensed when he started laughing in a very quiet and unamused way.

“Well, that’s just perfect,” he murmured. “All of you Uchiha are just the god-damned-same! Not concerned with anyone or anything but yourselves.” The kid glanced up and glared at Madara. “Fine. Take me home. But don’t ever fucking bother me again.”

With that, he stood and stormed out of the open door, Pain quietly trekking after him and closing the door. After several moments of silence, Obito turned his incredulous stare from the door to Madara. He raised one brow in question. “Uh, did that go the way you intended?”

Madara chuckled shortly as he ran his hands through his hair. “More or less.”

Obito frowned. “Care to share the point of that encounter?”

Madara stood and moved back to the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He didn’t speak for close to a minute, but then Obito caught the flash of a smile in the pane’s reflection. 

“Just making sure that someone’s here for them when I’m gone,” was his cryptic reply, and then he was heading for the door, beckoning Obito to follow as he made his way to where their new guests were waiting.

~*~

Deidara clicked his tongue as Naruto buckled up in the back of his car. “Why do I get stuck taking you home? What am I, a fucking babysitter?”

Naruto ignored his little rant for his own pissed off thoughts. _Who the fuck does that old man think he is, just calling me here like some little bitch to answer his fucking invasive-as-shit questions?_

At best, this could have been a quick phone call before he hopped in the shower and passed out in bed. Or he could’ve minded his own fucking business to begin with.

Naruto leaned his head against the seatback. Whatever. At least he hadn’t ended up in anything shady. But of course, he would leave his little meeting with Madara out of any conversations he had with Kakashi or his dad.

“Hey, kid,” Deidara said from the front, and Naruto lifted his head. “I’m close to the station. What way do I go from-”

Deidara was cut off as something slammed into the right side of the car. Naruto’s head banged against the door, and the last thing he heard was the crunching of metal against metal and the shattering of glass.

~*~

Inoichi bit back a yawn as he maneuvered between the milling personnel at the tape line and moved deeper into the closed-off alley. Shikaku glanced up at him from his crouched position and nodded as he stood, towering over the two bodies on the ground. Inoichi came up to his side and glanced down.

“What have we got?” he asked as he took in the disparate figures. Both male, but one was tall and lanky with pale hair, while the other was very tall and broad, with reddish hair.

“We ran the prints and got hits on low-level gang members – Suigetsu and Juugo.”

Inoichi frowned. Those names sounded familiar somehow.

“The coroner’s done, so we’ll be taking them down to the morgue. No mystery, really. Shot in the head, execution-style. The odd thing is,” Shikaku paused, “Their tongues were cut out.”

Inoichi pulled on some gloves and bent down to look at the smaller man’s mouth. The chin was covered in dried blood, and the bottom lip had notches, perhaps from where the blade cut into them as the tongue was cut off. “Post-mortem?” he asked.

“Coroner says ante-mortem, but the medical examiner can be more precise. Does it matter?”

“Cutting out the tongue,” Inoichi started as he leaned over to the other body, “Is symbolism for keeping one’s silence. Doing so post-mortem is more a message for those left alive, that someone who talks dies. Doing so ante-mortem is mostly to remind the victims why they’re dying just before they do.”

Inoichi swept his gaze up and down the larger man, his eye catching on some dull ink on the side of the man’s forearm. Gingerly, he reached out and twisted the arm as much as he could and took in the tattoo imprinted on the dull skin – an ouroboros. His eyes widening, he quickly switched to the other man, gently lifting and twisting his arm to see the same tattoo.

“What is it, Inoichi?” Shikaku asked quietly as he crouched down again.

“These tattoos – I thought those names sounded familiar. These two are part of Orochimaru’s gang. I ran across them when I was looking for young gang members that might have some connection to Sasuke. Lt. Hyuuga had me looking into it.”

Shikaku was quiet a moment before he said, “What are the odds?”

Inoichi lifted a brow. That had to be rhetorical. Surely Shikaku would already know the odds. They found dead gang members on a weekly basis, but these two were _persons of interest_ that Inoichi had started a preliminary investigation into just yesterday – the day a high-profile detective was found murdered.

“I want to know more about these two,” Shikaku continued. “Is there someone we could discreetly pick up and ask questions, someone who was close to their rank in the gang?”

Inoichi hummed. “I don’t know that she’s gang, but Gang Intelligence says these two are often in the company of a young woman named Karin.”

Shikaku nodded. “Let’s find her.”

Inoichi pulled out his cell and dialed the lieutenant. He wasn’t going to say that this put them closer, but it certainly gave him a little bit of hope.

~*~

_Sasuke lay over top Naruto, completely drained and covered in sweat – and other fluids. A small part of his brain cried out for a shower, but the rest of it wanted to just… not move, not after their romp and not from atop Naruto. It was… so comfortable._

_Naruto’s arm came up and curled around his shoulder, his fingers languidly running through Sasuke’s sweaty hair. He breathed out softly through his nose, keeping in a quiet hum of contentment._

_“That’s a nice way to start the weekend,” Naruto said with a quiet laugh. Sasuke grunted his agreement. “What do you want to do today?” Sasuke grunted again. He really didn’t want to do anything. Naruto chuckled again. “Well, what do you say to a shower, takeout, and a Battlestar Galactica marathon?”_

_Sasuke was quiet a moment. “Make it Firefly.”_

_Naruto laughed as he hugged Sasuke gently. “Deal.”_

…

Sasuke woke up gradually, but he kept his eyes closed, holding on to the last vestiges of the dream. He didn’t remember how long ago that particular scene had occurred, but his mind had somehow clung to it more thoroughly than others – and he could imagine why.

Sex with Naruto was always fantastic, but for some time now, the afterglow – laying with Naruto on his bed, listening to Naruto’s heart race and slow and beat a steady rhythm against his ear – had become… somewhat precious, a haven when everything became too much. As had just… being with Naruto, cuddled on his couch, binging some random show and avoiding Naruto’s attempts to feed him cup noodles with chopsticks.

To him, Naruto was…

_Naruto is…_

With a quiet sigh, Sasuke opened his eyes and blearily looked around him. The last he remembered, he had been in the hospital.

No!

His eyes snapped open completely. Itachi had come to pick him up!

He tried to sit up, but a nauseating pain shot through his stomach and forced him back down. He breathed through the pain, eyes closed and mind focused on his breaths until his heart stopped pounding through his abdomen. He opened his eyes again, focused on the ceiling, and took in every ache and pain that he could now feel – his whole body felt like one massive bruise. But then there was the radiating pain in his stomach – the gunshot – and the same in his leg – the car accident.

Okay, so no moving. He looked around again. Where was he? The room was spacious – there was an entire wall of curtains, heavy ones that blocked out whatever light lay beyond, and the bed he lay upon was a king-sized monstrosity with crisp white sheets and a hunter green comforter. The whole room was done up in dark woods and greens, almost like the dense depths of a forest. 

Across from the foot of the bed was a dark wood dresser with a large mirror, and on the half-wall to his left was a matching chest of drawers. A matching nightstand was to his right, between the bed and the wall of curtains. He couldn’t see what was past the half-wall, but he thought it might be an attached bath with how big the room was. And to the side of the dresser was a door that Sasuke assumed led to the rest of the house. He stared at it and willed it to open, willed Itachi to walk through the door and continue their talk of why Danzo, of all people, wanted to kill their family.

He nearly jumped when there was a tentative knock on the door, and it opened to admit an older woman, her silver hair pinned in a bun atop her head, though her frame was solid and straight. She carried a pair of crutches under her arm that she propped against the half-wall before turning to eye him.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” When he hesitated to answer, the woman smiled and clicked her tongue. “You Uchiha always were a quiet bunch. My name is Mito. I am a retired doctor, and Itachi asked that I look in on you.”

“Itachi did?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’ve already called my daughter and asked her to give me some basic information on your condition. Now, may I have a look at your stomach?”

Sasuke nodded after a moment and pushed the covers down and lifted Itachi’s shirt, revealing the swaths of bandages on his stomach. He looked down and was at least relieved that there was no visible seepage.

“Good. The top layer is still clean. We’ll wait a few more hours before we change them. How does your leg feel? Are you in a lot of pain?”

He shook his head. “It really just aches right now.”

“Well, you let me know if that changes.” She petted his hair and smiled. “Now,” she continued as she sat down on the bed. “I am also here on behalf of my husband. There is a young woman here who would like to speak with you, and my husband needs you to let her. So, I need you to promise me that you will remain calm and listen to her.”

Sasuke didn’t like the sound of that. “Where’s Itachi?”

“He stepped out for a moment. Now, promise me.”

“Who are you? Where am I?”

“I am Mito. You are in my house. Promise me.”

He glared at her. “Those aren’t answers.”

“You’ll only get those from me when I get what I want from you.”

Sasuke nearly growled. After a moment, he spit out, “Fine.” He inhaled deeply. “I promise.”

Mito smiled at him. “Good.” She turned and called, “Come in.”

Sasuke watched as the door was pushed open again and nearly growled as Karin walked in, her face tear-stained and her hands clenched together in front of her. Mito placed her hand on his shoulder and reminded him of his promise.

“Come, Karin. Sit,” Mito directed as she stood. Karin hesitated before moving forward and taking the spot Mito had vacated. Sasuke restrained himself from moving away from her. “Now, I am going to get Sasuke something to eat. Please say what you need to say to him quickly, Karin.”

“Yes, Aunt Mito.” Karin nodded, her eyes glued to the floor. Mito patted her head and left the room. There was silence between them for a moment, and then Karin brought her hands up to her face, shoving them under her glasses as she began to cry.

“I’m so sorry!” she said between sobs. “Sasuke! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!” She sobbed more, but it died down quickly, and she removed her glasses and brought her shirt up to rub at her face. She let it fall back down and sniffed. Then she finally looked at Sasuke, though it was quick, and she lowered her eyes to the green comforter.

“Suigetsu said it was just a quick job, grabbing something that someone needed. I didn’t know it was your house. I didn’t know he had a gun.”

Sasuke didn’t say anything, but he didn’t think she was lying. She had seemed genuinely surprised when he’d shown up downstairs. Plus, whatever Suigetsu thought he was doing running with those thug friends of his, Sasuke knew Karin wasn’t part of any of that.

“I’ve never been so scared in my life,” she continued. “I was still in shock that night, I think, but when I woke up yesterday and saw it all on the news…” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m not unfamiliar with the law. Even though I didn’t know, even though I didn’t pull the trigger, I was there and can be held responsible for their deaths, especially if they can’t find the actual murderer – or the shot caller.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened at the implication. “What do you know?”

Karin laughed humorlessly. “I know everything Suigetsu knows, which, admittedly, isn’t a lot. But I know who Suigetsu works for, and I know who asked for the hit, and they aren’t the same person.”

Sasuke had thought as much and gazed at her speculatively. “What are you doing here, Karin?”

She looked up at him again. “When I talked to Suigetsu this morning, he said he was meeting with the ‘boss’ today. I wanted no part of it, so I came here, to my uncle’s house.”

Sasuke raised a brow. “Who’s your uncle?”

Karin raised a hand to wipe tears off her cheek. “Hashirama Senju.”

“The District Attorney?” Sasuke asked. When she nodded, he narrowed his eyes. “You’re going to testify against Suigetsu?”

Karin nodded slowly. “I told my uncle that I would tell the police everything I know if they won’t charge me. But,” she paused, biting her bottom lip. “I wanted to talk to you first. I know we’re not exactly friends, and I know you may also hold me responsible, but I just wanted you to know that I… I would never… I didn’t…” She started crying again.

Sasuke sighed. He could be angry at her, but he knew she had nothing to do with it. She had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, much like himself.

“I know, Karin,” he said quietly. “But you’re putting yourself in a lot of danger by testifying against Suigetsu and Danzo.”

She sniffed and laughed humorlessly again. “Trust me, Sasuke. I’m in danger either way. Danzo’s not going to want witnesses, and Orochimaru doesn’t care about low-level grunts like Suigetsu and Juugo. And me, by association, I guess.” She sniffed again. “Thank you for letting me speak to you, Sasuke.”

Before he could answer, the door opened as someone knocked, and in walked an older man with straight brown hair down to the top of his thighs. The wrinkles around his eyes and mouth suggested he was as old as Mito, but Sasuke didn’t need those cues to know this was the DA.

“Sasuke Uchiha,” he said as he neared the bed. “Hashirama Senju. I’m very sorry for your loss and that we have to meet under these circumstances.” He held out his hand for Sasuke to shake, which he did slowly. “I’ve come to retrieve Karin. We’ll be heading down to the station to meet with Captain Hatake and one of my deputies. Karin, please go get ready.”

“Yes, Uncle,” she said as she stood from the bed. She gave Sasuke a watery smile and then left the room, leaving Sasuke with Hashirama.

“Sasuke, please make yourself comfortable. You’ll be staying here until we can sort out something more secure.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened. “What? No. I want to see my uncle.” That was still his goal. Madara would have the means to avenge his parents.

Hashirama frowned. “Bringing Madara into this is not optimal.” Then he sighed and smiled wryly. “Though, if I know Madara, he’s already involved.” He frowned again. “Still, Itachi has asked me to look after you, and so I will. My brother will be here later to lead your security detail. In the meantime, your friends would like to see you.”

Sasuke’s angry frown morphed into a confused one. “Friends?”

“Come in,” Hashirama said to the door. Sasuke watched as Kiba and Shikamaru walked in from the hall. 

_Oh. Naruto’s friends._

Kiba made a beeline for the bed, his phone up and snapping pictures. “Holy shit, Sasuke. You look worse in the light of day.”

Sasuke glared, and Hashirama cleared his throat. “Yes, well,” he said. “I’ll just leave you to it.” And he left, leaving Sasuke to deal with Naruto’s friends. And now Kiba was texting.

“What are you doing?” he asked Kiba.

“Texting Naruto that you’re fine, if a little ugly.”

Sasuke glared harder. “Why are you here?”

“Itachi took Kiba’s car,” Shikamaru said with a shrug. “We’re stuck here for the moment.”

Sasuke grunted. Silence fell between them again. Kiba continued to text, and Shikamaru laid down on the empty side of the bed, on his back with his hands behind his head. Sasuke noticed the little looks Kiba shot him every now and again and the ones he shot Shikamaru.

“What’s your problem?” he asked irritably.

Kiba jolted and turned a glare his way. “Nothing that concerns you.”

“I beg to differ, what with the way you keep sneaking glances at me.”

Kiba transferred his scowl to his phone and ignored Sasuke. Shikamaru sighed. “He’s probably wondering what part of that pleasant personality of yours attracted Naruto.”

Sasuke blinked. He wanted to tell them to mind their own business, but what came out instead was, “He told you?” 

Kiba sighed explosively as he pocketed his phone. “It’s not like he was blabbing shit. He thought you were dead. He was mourning, just trying to… get his guilt out. He was…” Kiba glared at the floor as he ran a hand through his hair. “He was blaming himself for your death because he didn’t let you into his apartment. He was sorry that he yelled at you. He was going to have to live the rest of his life thinking that you had been sleeping with someone other than him-”

“Wait, what?” Sasuke interrupted, his heart pounding in his chest.

Kiba clicked his tongue. “Well, we know it was Itachi now, but that person you were texting the night you fought? Well, Naruto thought-”

“Kiba,” Shikamaru interjected.

“Fine. I thought you were cheating on Naruto, even if Naruto claims you aren’t dating-”

“We’re not.”

“But he was too angry and insistent for me to believe that,” Kiba barreled on, louder than Sasuke’s protest. There was a short silence before Kiba continued, “So, I was just thinking – now that I know you were texting with Itachi, how do you see your relationship with Naruto?” Sasuke didn’t answer, but Kiba apparently wasn’t expecting one, since he finished, “I was just thinking to myself. I’m not asking anything of you. So, it’s none of your concern.”

Like hell it wasn’t Sasuke’s concern. His brows furrowed in thought. Naruto seemed to be on the same page as him – they _were not_ dating – but… was he upset that they weren’t? Is that something that Naruto wanted?

Surprisingly, the thought wasn’t as abhorrent as Sasuke had once thought. Well, if he were honest with himself, the thought had never been _abhorrent_ ; he just hadn’t any desire to date – all his focus had been on his brother for a long time.

His mind wandered back to his dream – _his memory_ – of them together, just in Naruto’s apartment, hanging out like friends. But in very close proximity. With a lot of touching, kissing, and some gentle and tender moments that Sasuke tended to shy away from when thinking about them but all for them while they were happening.

Maybe… dating… was that something _Sasuke_ wanted?

His thoughts were interrupted by Mito coming back into the room with a food tray. “All right, boys, make room. Sasuke needs to sit up and eat.” She handed the tray to Kiba and shooed him off the bed, and then she gently but swiftly lifted Sasuke up and back against the pillows so that he was sitting up but without much pressure on his stomach. Then she took the tray back from Kiba and settled it over Sasuke’s lap.

“Eat. You need energy for your body to heal,” she said. “I’ll be back later.” She left the room, leaving them in silence again. Though, Sasuke was pretty sure Shikamaru was asleep. And he didn’t want to talk to Kiba anyway. So he turned to his food and ate it half-heartedly, wondering when Itachi would be back and when he could next see Naruto.

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry for the long wait on this story. I'm at the point where I know how I want the story to end, but I haven't quite figured out how to get there. So, for the next few chapters, it will be me kinda of fumbling about in my own plot, lol. Thanks for your patience, and I hope you stay with me to the end!


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